Sara Khan, a British Muslim of Pakistani origin, was born in 1980. She worked in pharmacy and was active in the field of human rights and combating violent extremism. Following the London bombings in 2005 carried out by terrorist suicide bombers, killing about 52 people, and leaving 700 injured, Sara devoted her personal and professional life to fighting the scourge of extremism and terrorism. She sat on the Home Office’s Tackling Extremism and Radicalisation Working Group, and for more than fifteen years, she gained extensive experience, which made her one of the most prominent female figures in combating extremism in Britain and abroad.

In 2018, the then-British Prime Minister Theresa May chose Sara Khan as head of the UK Home Office’s Commission for Countering Extremism and said in her announcement of the appointment: “The Commission for Countering Extremism will form a crucial part of this Government’s work to stop the scourge of extremism in all its forms. And Sara Khan is expertly qualified to lead its important work”. She added: “She will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the commission, which will prove vital as it works to identify and challenge extremism and provide independent advice to the government”.

In 2008, Sara Khan founded “Inspire” in London to combat extremism globally, raise awareness of this pernicious evil, and provide material, moral and awareness support to those working in this field. “Inspire” works on a range of issues, such as education, training, research, and awareness. It aims to promote human rights values, tolerance, diversity, and citizenship as means of countering extremism. It produced several videos to respond to the propaganda of terrorist Daesh with convincing counter-arguments. These clips were widely received and achieved high viewership online.

As part of her counter-extremism work, Sara Khan has conducted field trips to more than thirty towns and villages in England, in addition to trips abroad. She spoke with thousands of academics, researchers, and government representatives, to lead a constructive national dialogue, deepen understanding about the scale of extremism, and then develop effective solutions within societies and institutions. Given her outstanding efforts in the counter-extremism field, most central governments, public bodies, non-governmental organizations, police, and civil society entities have chosen her to cooperate and provide expertise in combating extremism. She has also worked as an advisor to a number of government departments, was appointed to the Department for International Development’s (DFID) External Expert Advisory Group on Girls and Women, was appointed to sit on the Department for Education’s Due Diligence and Counter-Extremism Expert Reference Group and was recently selected by the Prime Minister as the government’s Independent Adviser for Social Cohesion and Resilience as part of government action to tackle extremism in our communities.

Sara Khan stresses the importance of women’s efforts in combating extremism, as they are usually the strongest party in this process. Women have the capacity for the early observation of extremism within the family, and this is what gave their participation in counter-terrorism operations a positive impact on society in general. So special programmes are designed to train and raise the awareness of women and provide them with effective tools to protect their children from extremist ideology. In 2015, when Daesh declared its so-called Caliphate, Sara Khan launched a counter-Daesh propaganda campaign, and women and mothers played an important role in combating this terrorist propaganda through community education and awareness campaigns. 

Sara Khan has also refuted the claim that terrorism is exclusively attributed to Islamists, calling this “a big mistake”. Extremism is a threat that can emanate from the circles of all religions and can target any group in the world. There is even an increase in the types of extremism, whether it is neo-Nazi extremism in Germany, the extremism of Indian nationalist groups, or the far right in Europe and America, whose remarkable and steady growth we observe today.