Abid Raja

Abid Qayyum Raja (born 5 November 1975 in Oslo) is a Norwegian lawyer and politician of Pakistani descent.

He has since 2008 been office bearer {www.une.no} as Board Leader of Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board. Currently he is on leave and serving as Police Presecutor at National Police Immigration Service. Previously he has worked as a criminal defence lawyer for four years and been civil case litigator for two. He has appeared on many televised debates, and has written op-eds in national newspapers. He has voiced opposition to prearranged marriages.. He has also written two books; Spokesman i 2008 (Aschehoug publishers house )and Dialogue in 2010 (CappelenDamm publishers).

As a child growing up in Norway he was subjected to corporal punishment by his Pakistani parents and as a result contacted child protective services on his own, who took him into protective care for six months.[1] He has been an ardent opponent of spanking and corporal punishment of children ever since.

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Education

A graduate in Human Rights and Behavioural Sciences in Law at the University of Southampton, Raja was in 2003 a Norway Scholar at Wadham College at the University of Oxford where he studies for a MSc in Psychology. He holds also an undergraduate degree in Criminology and Cand.Jur.degree from University of Oslo with Laud.

Career in politics and with NGOs

He has been a spokesman for various muslim organizations in Norway.

Raja is a member of the Liberal Party of Norway, and unsuccessfully stood for a seat from Akershus county for the Norwegian Parliament in the 2009 national elections. He has been called to duty as member of the Norwegian National Essembly several times as a deputy member

Attendence at memorial service in 2001

After a memorial service for the victims of the World Trade Center attack in 2001 (at the American Church, Frogner, Oslo), he said it is "important that moderate muslims ... share the sorrow and distance ourselves from extremist violence and acts of terror"[2]

Awards

In 2010 he was awarded the Fritt Ord Award.[3]

References

  1. ^ Article about Raja's book Talsmann (the spokesman) in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten,
  2. ^ "- Minnes hvordan verden sto sammen med USA". NTB. 2011-09-12. p. 8. "viktig at moderate muslimer over hele verden viser at vi deler sorge og tar avstand fra ekstremistisk vold og terrorhandlinger" 
  3. ^ Henriksen, Petter, ed (2007). "Fritt Ords pris" (in Norwegian). Store norske leksikon. Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. http://www.snl.no/Fritt_Ords_pris. Retrieved 22 May 2010. 
Awards
Preceded by
Nina Karin Monsen		 Recipient of the Fritt Ord Award
2010
(shared with Bushra Ishaq)		 Succeeded by
Incumbent