Sabir Zazai is a former refugee from Afghanistan, who became the CEO of the Scottish Refugee Council. He has honorary doctorates from the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

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and an OBE. Zazai was also conferred with fellowship of

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 2022 and the Lord Provost's Award For Human Rights in 2019.

Life

Zazai was born in Afghanistan, where his early education was disrupted by the Afghan Civil War. In 1999 he arrived in the UK with only seven years of formal education and he was accommodated in Coventry, as part of the UK's asylum dispersal policy. In 2002 he began his first job in the UK working with refugee children in Coventry. He was invited to talk at Coventry Cathedral and a friend, Penny Walker, who had started the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre, arranged for an interview on the BBC. He spoke to Coventry Council and asked them to make their city a "City of Sanctuary". left, Dr Sabir Zazai talking to a Rotary meeting in 2022 In 2010, Zazai graduated from

Coventry University Coventry University is a Public university, public research university in Coventry, England. The origins of Coventry University can be linked to the Coventry School of Art and Design, Coventry School of Design in 1843. It was known as Lancheste ...

with a degree in Human Resource Management and in 2013, he was awarded an MA in Community Cohesion Management. From 2014, Zazai led the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre and this was a charity that previously helped him when he was a refugee. In 2017 he left England and he became the CEO of the Scottish Refugee Council. He made his home in Scotland where he worked with others to ensure that refugees in Scotland are allowed to vote. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow in 2019 but the occasion was marred as his father was refused permission to enter the country to witness the ceremony as the authorities said that they thought his father would not return to his country. Two members of parliament raised this issue in the

house of commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. Eventually the government reconsidered his fathers application and Zazai's father, Mohammad Zahir Zazai, saw his son receive the doctorate from Prof Alison Phipps, and he met two of his grandchildren for the first time. At the same event the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Katharine Viner, who had supported Zazai, also received an honorary doctorate. In the same year Zazai received the Lord Provost's Award for Human Rights. Zazai joined many others including the Archbishop of Canterbury who were objecting to the UK government's policy of moving refugees to Rwanda. He was awarded an

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in 2022. He is the Honorary President of

City of Sanctuary (UK) City of Sanctuary is a British charitable organisation whose purpose is to build a movement of welcome across the UK, predominantly for asylum seekers and refugees, by coordinating and supporting networks of community groups across the UK and Irel ...

and a Visiting Practice Fellow of the Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University. He served as a Council Member of Coventry Cathedral, advising the

Bishop of Coventry The Bishop of Coventry is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichf ...

on interfaith and refugee issues. The Bishop is a friend.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zazai, Sabir 1970s births Living people British chief executives Refugees in the United Kingdom Alumni of Coventry University Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire