Abid Raja

Abid Qayyum Raja
Member of Parliament
for Akershus
Assumed office
17 October 2013
Personal details
Born (1975-11-05) 5 November 1975
Oslo, Norway
Nationality Norwegian
Political party Liberal Party
Spouse(s) Nadia Ansar
Children Maya
Sara
Adam Raja
Alma mater University of Southampton
University of Oxford
University of Oslo
Occupation Politician
Profession Lawyer
Religion Islam

Abid Qayyum Raja (born 5 November 1975 in Oslo) is a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Liberal Party. He was elected to the Parliament of Norway Akershus in 2013 where he serves as second deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications and also is a member of the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs

Early life

Born in Oslo into a family of Pakistani descent, he was raised in the St. Hanshaugen neighborhood in Oslo. His father Abdul Qayyum Raja (1937-) was a factory worker who worked at the Christiania Spigerverk steel plant in Nydalen, while his mother Akthar Nasim (1949-) was a homemaker.[1] Raja describes his parents as someone who "used violence as a part of the parenting, violence was relatively common in my community".[2] In 1992, at age 15 he contacted child protective services and he was taken away due to the ongoing violence in the household.[3] He was subsequently placed in a hospice for recovering drug-addicts, which he later would describe as a "hellish dump". After being relocated to a nearby orphanage, he dropped out of high school and, according to him, committed a series of petty robberies, thefts and assaults which caused him to be arrested.[4]

After six months at the orphanage, he was allowed to move back home, after which his parents sent him to Pakistan. Upon his return to Norway, he re-enrolled in high-school and according to him "had his mind set on becoming a lawyer" after seeing Kevin Costner in the film JFK.[5]

Education

After graduating from Foss Upper Secondary School, he enrolled at University of Southampton, and graduated with a degree in Human Rights and Behavioural Sciences in Law. Raja was in 2003 a Norway Scholar at Wadham College. He holds also an undergraduate degree in Criminology and Cand.jur. degree from University of Oslo with Laud.

Career

He has worked as a criminal defense lawyer for four years and been civil case litigator for two.

In 2008 been office bearer, a Board Leader of Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board. He was first on leave to serve as Police Presecutor at National Police Immigration Service, and later on posted as Norwegian diplomat at Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi, India.

A member of the Liberal Party of Norway, he unsuccessfully stood for a seat from Akershus county for the Norwegian Parliament in the 2009 national elections. He has however been called to duty as member of the Norwegian National Assembly several times as a deputy member . At the end of 2012 he was nominated as the top candidate for Akershus Venstre in the Norwegian parliamentary election, 2013.[6] He is thus the first person in Norwergian politics with minority background to be nominated at top of a ballot-list for National parliament election. He was elected to the National Assembly in September 2013.

Advocacy and positions in public debate

Raja has been a lifelong opponent of spanking and corporal punishment of children. This stems from his experiences as a child growing up in Norway, where he was subjected to severe cane-whipping by the local Koranic teacher at the mosque as well as 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.[7][8] In response to revelations about child abuse in a Mosque, he called for Koranic teachers which are found to have beaten children to immediately leave Norway, stating that "they are not welcome".[9]

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".[10]

He has voiced opposition to forced marriages as well as marriages based on the caste system within the south-Asian community in Norway.[11][12] Also an outspoken opponent of arranged marriages, of which he said in 2013; "it is essential to break up the marriage pattern in the Norwegian-Pakistani community, so that arranged marriages becomes uncommon".[13]

Personal life

Raja is married to psychologist Nadia Ansar. They first met while he was studying law, and she was studying psychology at the University of Oslo. They currently reside in the Ekeberg district of Oslo, along with their three children, twins Maya and Sara, and son Adam.[1][14]

Awards

In 2010 he was awarded the Fritt Ord Award.[15]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 Mauno, Hanne (28 September 2013). "Representant Raja". Dagsavisen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Iungset, Odd. "Abid Raja havnet på glattcelle". tv2.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  3. ↑ Bråthen, Trine. "Født med lukket endetarm". Nrk.no. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  4. ↑ Opdedal, Hallgeir. "Snakkistanteren". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Dagbladet.no. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  5. ↑ Soltvedt, Willy. "Ble advokat mot alle odds". Aftenbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  6. ↑ Venstres stortingskandidater er klare Venstre.no, December 2, 2012 (in Norwegian)
  7. ↑ Article about Raja's book Talsmann (the spokesman) in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten,
  8. ↑ Aune, Oddvin. "Raja: - Jeg ble også slått i moskeen". Nrk.no. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  9. ↑ Dahl Nilssen, Ida. "- Ikkje velkommen om du slår". Nrk.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  10. ↑ "- 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
  11. ↑ Brustad, Line. "Hard kastekrig mellom pakistanske samfunnstopper". Vg.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  12. ↑ Thorenfeldt, Gunnar. "Slik dater norskpakistanere". Dagbladet.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  13. ↑ Slettholm, Andreas. "Abid Raja: - Vi må bryte opp mønsteret der man henter ektefeller fra Pakistan". aftenposten.no. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  14. ↑ Nitter, Kathrine (27 August 2008). "Lynet slo ned i hagen til Raja". Noblad.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  15. ↑ Henriksen, Petter, ed. (2007). "Fritt Ords pris". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abid Raja.
Awards
Preceded by
Nina Karin Monsen		 Recipient of the Fritt Ord Award
2010
(shared with Bushra Ishaq) 		Succeeded by
Anders Sømme Hammer
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