Sajjad Karim

Sajjad Karim MEP
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Member of the European Parliament for North West England
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 June 2004
Preceded by	Jacqueline Foster
Majority	335,063 (15.9%)
Personal details
Born	(1970-08-11) August 11, 1970 Lancashire, UK
Political party	Liberal Democrats (2004 - 2007) Conservative (2007 - present)

Sajjad H Karim (nickname "Saj"; born 11 July 1970) is a Member of the European Parliament for North West England. He was elected in 2004 for the Liberal Democrats, but defected to the Conservative Party on 26 November 2007, apparently sacking his office staff, in Nelson, Lancashire, by text message in the process. He was the first British Muslim elected to the European Parliament.

Early life

Karim was born in Blackburn, Lancashire on 11 July 1970. His father was a Conservative councillor. Karim attended the College of Law in Chester studying Law. He qualified as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1997 and rose to becoming an equity partner very quickly specialising in cases of serious fraud defence work. Sajjad was elected a member of Pendle Borough Council in 1994 and served until 2001.

Member of European Parliament

Karim was first elected to the European Parliament for North West England in 2004 where he become the first British Muslim to be elected to European Parliament.

Karim serves on the International Trade and Human Rights Committees and was a Member of the European Parliament's 'Committee of Investigation into alleged CIA extraordinary renditions and secret prisons' after having been the first MEP to officially raise the matter.

He is Vice-President of the European Parliament's Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup and Co-Chair of the European Muslim Forum. He has focused on the rise of intolerance in Europe in recent years, notably the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. He was the European Liberal and Democrat Group (ALDE) Spokesperson on the WTO and he is the European Parliament Rapporteur on EU-India Trade and Economic relations.

Personal life

He is interested in human rights issues including child labour and the civil liberties of EU citizens in the War on Terror.

Karim led the successful European Union contribution to the campaign for the commutation of the death penalty of British man, Mirza Tahir Hussain, who had spent half of his life on death row in Pakistan, for a crime he maintains he did not commit.

External links

• Sajjad Karim profile at the European Parliament

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