Occupation Human rights activist | ||
Sara Khan is a British Muslim human rights activist and the current CEO of Inspire,, an independent non-governmental organisation working to counter extremism and gender inequality, which she co-founded in 2008. Sara is a contributor to The Guardian and The Independent newspapers, as well as The Huffington Post and has made numerous appearances on British television and radio. She helped launch Inspire’s Jihad Against Violence campaign and the anti-Isis campaign #makingastand which was supported by the Home Secretary.
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Inspire has delivered a considerable amount of work in the educational sector. Sara partnered with the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) to deliver training to headteachers and senior leaders about safeguarding pupils from extremism. Under Inspire, Sara spearheaded the organisation’s efforts in 2013 to challenge Universities UK’s guidelines which advocated for gender segregation on Britain’s universities. Inspire has produced anti-extremism counter-narrative videos which have been watched thousands of times to help refute ISIS propaganda. One video by Sara condemning Boko Haram’s treatment of women and girls has been viewed over 76,000 times .
Sara Khan is also co-author of the book “The Battle for British Islam: Reclaiming Muslim Identity from Extremism."
Government advisory roles
In September 2005 after the London bombings, Sara sat on the Home Office's Tackling Extremism and Radicalisation Working Group. Following this she sat on the Department for Education’s Due Diligence and Counter-Extremism Expert Reference group headed by Lord Nash.
Awards and recognition
In March 2009, Sara was listed in the Equality and Human Rights Commission Muslim Women’s Power List.
In January 2015 Sara was recognised as one of Britain’s 500 most influential people, in the prestigious Debrett’s War and Peace category as someone who is working towards peace and stability in the United Kingdom.
In March 2015 she was named the 2015 Kraemer Middle East Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, the Wendy & Emery Reves Center for International Studies and the Program in Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding at the William & Mary School of Law in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.