Writer and charity director
Sajda Mughal, OBE is best known as being a survivor of the 7 July 2005 London Bombings. She is the director of the JAN Trust, a charity which provides support to vulnerable and marginalised women through empowerment and raising awareness of issues relating to extremism, violence and women’s rights.[1][2][3][4]
Mughal is a contributor to various new outlets, including The Independent,[5] The Times,[6] HuffPost,[2] OpenDemocracy,[7] Metro.[8]
She has appeared on several television programmes, including Lorraine,[9][10] Victoria Derbyshire,[11] and Channel 5.[12]
She is married and has two daughters.[13]
7 July 2005
Mughal is a survivor of the terrorist attack that took place on 7 July 2005, which took place in London.[13] She was 22 at the time, and was working as the head of recruitment at an investment bank.[13] She is the only Muslim survivor of the attack.[14]
In 2007, following the attack Mughal quit her job and was appointed as the director of the JAN Trust, where she focused on counter-terrorism.[15]
Views
As well as working with JAN Trust, Mughal has campaigned towards raising awareness of Islamophobia and its effects on British Muslims, particularly women.[4]
She has spoken out against the UK government’s Prevent strategy, which she has described as not successfully achieving its purpose of protecting and safeguarding communities.[5]
Mughal has also criticised government cuts to mental health services, citing her own struggles in obtaining support for her recovery process following the 7/7 attacks.[16]
Awards and achievements
In 2013 Mughal won the Community Champion Award from the Hope not Hate campaign.[13]
Mughal was named Ultimate Humanitarian by the Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women Awards in 2015.[17]
She was named by the Evening Standard as one of London’s Top 1000 Most Influential Londoners as a Campaigner in 2014,[18] and subsequently in 2015 for an award in the same category.[19]
She was nominated for the category of Social and Humanitarian in the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in 2014.[4][20]
In 2013 she was awarded with the International World of Difference Award in recognition of efforts to advance women’s empowerment.[21]
She was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to Community Cohesion and Interfaith Dialogue.[22]
References
External websites