Mohammad Asghar, known as Oscar, was a Welsh politician who was a Member of the Senedd for South Wales East.
21 Facts About Mohammad Asghar
2.
Mohammad Asghar was a member of the Welsh Conservatives, and previously of Welsh Labour, and Plaid Cymru.
3.
Mohammad Asghar came to prominence after being elected to the Welsh Assembly in 2007 as a member of Plaid Cymru on the list for South Wales East.
4.
Mohammad Asghar was the first ethnic minority and Muslim Member of the Welsh Assembly, as well as the first Assembly Member who was a member of a political party to defect to another party.
5.
Mohammad Asghar initially joined the Conservative Party, remaining a member for some two decades, later joining the Labour Party in the 1990s.
6.
Mohammad Asghar joined Plaid Cymru some time after becoming Wales's first Muslim councillor, representing Victoria ward on Newport City Council.
7.
Mohammad Asghar had stood for Plaid Cymru in general elections.
8.
On 8 December 2009, Mohammad Asghar became the first AM to cross the floor, defecting from Plaid Cymru to the Conservative Party.
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Mohammad Asghar claimed that he felt "out of tune" with Plaid policies, described himself as a royalist and unionist, and stated that he felt like "a little parrot in a jungle".
10.
Plaid Cymru called on Mohammad Asghar to resign his seat following his defection.
11.
Mohammad Asghar has gone on record as stating that MEP Jillian Evans's offer to give his daughter work experience was a significant factor in his decision to defect from the Labour party to Plaid Cymru.
12.
In December 2011, Mohammad Asghar emailed fellow Conservatives asking them to support his wife in a vacant Newport City Council seat two days after the incumbent Les Knight had died.
13.
Mohammad Asghar later apologised for the email, and confirmed that his wife would not be standing for election in the forthcoming elections.
14.
In 2011, Mohammad Asghar was involved in a dispute with members of the Jamia Mosque and Al-Noor Mosque, the two largest Sunni mosques in Newport, during which some members accused him of aggressively opposing the introduction of democratic elections for the mosques' leadership.
15.
Mohammad Asghar was issued with an ex parte court injunction, forbidding him from attending either mosque.
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In January 2014 and 2015, Mohammad Asghar was nominated for the Politician of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.
17.
Mohammad Asghar was a qualified pilot and spoke Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi fluently.
18.
Mohammad Asghar married his wife, Firdaus, in 1983; they had one daughter Natasha Mohammad Asghar.
19.
Mohammad Asghar ran with the Olympic torch in 1964 and campaigned for Wales to have its own cricket team.
20.
Mohammad Asghar died on 16 June 2020 after being rushed to hospital earlier in the day.
21.
Mohammad Asghar's funeral took place in Newport Central Mosque on 25 June 2020.