40 Facts About Abid Raja

Abid Qayyum Raja was born on 5 November 1975 and is a Norwegian lawyer and Liberal Party politician who served as Minister of Culture from 2020 to 2021.

Abid Raja was elected to the Storting as representative for Akershus in 2013 where he served as second deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications and is a member of the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs.

In October 2017, Raja was elected as the vice-president of the Storting, the second time in Norway's history that a Muslim has been elected to that office.

Abid Raja has written three books, the latter of which My fault won the 2021 Norwegian Bookseller's Prize and was the most sold non-fiction book in Norway in 2021 and 2022.

Abid Raja's father Abdul Qayyum Raja was a factory worker who worked at the Christiania Spigerverk steel plant in Nydalen, while his mother Akthar Nasim was a homemaker.

Abid Raja describes his parents as someone who "used violence as a part of the parenting, violence was relatively common in my community".

Abid Raja was placed in a hospice for recovering drug-addicts, which he later would describe as a "hellish dump".

Abid Raja was in 2003 the first non-ethnic Norwegian to receive the Norway Scholarship that have been rewarded since 1920 at University of Oxford, Wadham College and there he studied for the MSc degree in Psychology.

Abid Raja holds an undergraduate degree in Criminology and Master of Law degree Cand.

Abid Raja has worked as a criminal defence lawyer for four years and been civil case litigator for two.

In 2008, Abid Raja was appointed by the Norwegian Government, King in Council, to be office bearer as Board Leader of Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board, equivalent to a judge in a refugee court.

Abid Raja is thus the first person in Norwegian politics with minority background to be nominated at top of a ballot-list for National parliament election.

Abid Raja was elected to the Storting in September 2013 for a four-year term.

Abid Raja demanded that they'd make a report on racism.

Abid Raja was however open to becoming deputy leader if the party wished for it.

Abid Raja stated that every municipality should evaluate themselves whether or not it's safe to allow contact training.

Abid Raja added that the government had put forward 1,2 million NOK in support of Sami museums, and proposed 400,000 NOK to Sami stage art.

Abid Raja stated that he and the government stood behind the Sami people, and expressed it was important for such events to see the light of day.

Abid Raja expressed that the budget should have been spent on Norwegian productions rather than foreign ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abid Raja defended the spending, stating that it was the Mission: Impossible production's own decision to apply for filming in the country, and the fact that they were allowed, was decided by the NFI and not him.

Abid Raja expressed gratitude for the group's findings and encouraged them to continue their for as long as necessary, and sympathised that people wants to return to a normal summer, but that many factors are at play.

Abid Raja was supported by Conservative member of parliament Lene Westgaard-Halle, who stated that Sweden "let Hitler invade Norway".

Abid Raja announced in June 2021, the governments intention to make "Norway the first country to be free of racism".

Abid Raja further stated that it would be possible during his lifetime through self-knowledge, action plans and more funds.

Abid Raja's proposal did however receive full support from UNICEF Norway, whose director called it an "ambitious goal" and important.

Abid Raja attended the film festival in Cannes in July 2021 for the film The Worst Person in the World directed by Joachim Trier.

Abid Raja expressed his support for the Workers' Youth League's uproar against the right wing extremism behind the attacks.

Abid Raja further stated that the Labour Party or Workers' Youth League have driven party politics using the attack as an argument, but rather the contrary and that they have been careful when using it.

Abid Raja added that the discovery makes it clear why athletes should choose their own clothing.

Abid Raja said he was going to reach out to his other Nordic counterparts to set out a strong front in support of female athletes, in the fight against the leadership of the International Handball Federation.

Abid Raja expressed he felt touched by her story and expressed that she had his and the Norwegian people's support.

Abid Raja mentioned Denmark and France as examples, who put in a similar ban.

Abid Raja did however receive praise from Norsk Tipping, who saw the proposal as an extension of the government's already proposed new gambling law.

Abid Raja personally expressed that he hoped the letter would make time for a change against what he described as discrimination and old fashioned.

Abid Raja participated in the second season of Maskorama, the Norwegian equivalent of Masked Singer, disguised as the Nisse and on the second season of the Norwegian version of game show Wipeout.

Abid Raja has been a well known person in the media since his days as student.

Abid Raja has been a lifelong opponent of spanking and corporal punishment of children.

Abid Raja has voiced opposition to forced marriages as well as marriages based on the caste system within the south-Asian community in Norway.

Abid Raja founded the Norwegian think tank Minotenk and has as member of Parliament been both founding member of and member of the steering committee of International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief.

In 2010, Abid Raja was awarded the Fritt Ord Award for freedom of speech.