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Asian Voice | 24th February 2018
Rani Singh, Special Assignments Editor
Aina Khan OBE is a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. She is the Head of the Islamic and Asian Department at national law firm Duncan Lewis. Aina's OBE was awarded in the recent HM The Queen’s New Year’s Honours List, which is why she is being profiled by us. Aina Khan provides International legal solutions across the UK and globally. With over 25 years’ expertise and more than 5,000 cases, Aina is a world-renowned specialist in the field of Family Law and a leading expert in Islamic and Asian issues. She is regularly instructed to prepare Expert Reports on Private International Law for courts. At Duncan Lewis, Aina's department deals with International disputes, Family law, Inheritance and Islamic Finance.
Solicitor Aina Khan OBE
the areas in which cultural and religious issues overlap with civil law e.g. Islamic divorce, Inheritance disputes, and Dowry claims for Hindu clients. We act for global families who are sometimes dealing with three or four legal systems. In one case of mine, there were
Need for Asian and Islamic Law Department in UK Law Firms Aina Khan explains; “We provide assistance in all
nine different countries involved. It is a fascinating and growing area of law, in a time when people live, work and marry in different countries all over the world.” Aina Khan decided to focus on this area of work right at the beginning of her career, she says. “I found myself specialising in this area at the start of my career, over 25 years ago, because of demand from clients for a niche service. But it is, nonetheless, difficult to get to the position that Aina has reached. “It is hard enough staying at the top of one’s profession in family law alone, with the constant legal changes! Add to this becoming a specialist in Islamic family law and it is a challenging a n d
Aina Khan
Election Commission denies Lutfur Rahman’s direct involvement in Aspire party Lutfur Rahman, who was removed from his office over corruption claims in 2015, to people’s shock, had apparently the latest application for forming a new political party approved. Though it is noted that the nominator for the party's registration during this second attempt was not Rahman himself, but public is of the opinion that the party still allegedly belongs to Rahman and he may have taken a back office role now, because of the complications arising from his ill-reputation. The party, which has been named as ‘Aspire’, is widely believed to be Rahman’s second attempt to come back into local politics, after he was removed from his office by an Electoral Court in 2015 for “corrupt and illegal practices.” He was seen canvassing for an Independent group in Tower Hamlets contesting in the upcoming local elections. Speaking to Asian Voice, about Rahman's alleged link with the
demanding career,” the solicitor explains. Areas of UK law that need changing, according to Aina Khan
“I started a campaign called ‘Register Our Marriage’ to lobby for reform of English marriage law, to make it compulsory for all faiths to register their religious marriages under civil law. In most countries abroad, religious marriages have to be registered with the state, but in the UK it is up to each faith to volunteer to register. It is only compulsory for three faiths - Church of England, Jews and Quakers. I find this law out of date and not “fit for purpose“ as it has not been updated since 1949.” This important campaign site can be viewed here: https://www.registerourmarriage.org Why is Aina concerned about women and the children of unregistered marriages? Aina says, “My campaign spreads awareness of the lack of legal rights of women and children in unregistered religious
marriages. This is because they are regarded as just living together and in this country we do not have
My father passed away a few days after celebrating the news of the OBE with me. cohabitation rights. A Muslim husband has sole financial responsibility for supporting his wife and children, so leaving them unprotected and vulnerable defeats the very objective of marriage. It is against Islam to divorce a woman overnight and leave her and the children dependent on welfare benefits or her elderly parents.” Being Awarded the OBE Says Aina, “Applicants are never aware that they have been nominated. To this day, I do not know who nominated me! I was not allowed to tell the news
even to my own family before it was published in the papers. I do not know my OBE was given for “the protection of women and children in unregistered marriages“. This confirms that the Prime Minister and the Queen have endorsed the work I have done to ensure that these vulnerable people are not left destitute and homeless after being abandoned. I have run the campaign with volunteers and we have never received funding from any source. Women contact me regularly to say that they are now making sure their marriages are registered. It is therefore specially gratifying to know that this work, done at evenings and weekends, often leaving my husband and children to travel around the UK spreading awareness, has changed lives. My father passed away a few days after celebrating the news of the OBE with me. It is one of the dearest memories I have of him. He was a barrister and the one who trained me in Islamic and Asian family law. I am delighted that his legacy lives on.
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Lutfur Rahman
party, a spokesperson from the Electoral Commission added, "The terms of Lutfur Rahman’s conviction mean that he is presently barred from standing as a candidate at any elections. For each registered party there must be a registered leader, nominating officer and treasurer, which are given in their application. The names of ‘Aspire’ officers are Kalam Mahmud Abu Taher Choudhury as Leader; Lilian Collins as Nominating officer and Jahed Bokth Choudhury as Treasurer.” In a statement about the registration of the Aspire party, the Commission clarified that, "Following a rigorous assessment of Aspire’s application to
register as a political party, the Commission was satisfied the application met the statutory tests for registration. This includes that the name and emblem were suitable to appear on the register. This also includes that the party has a constitution that sets out its structure and organisation and that it has adopted a scheme that sets out the party’s arrangements for regulating its financial affairs for the purposes of PPERA (the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000)." Though Rahman is barred from standing as an electoral candidate, we have been told that he is free to take part in canvassing for elections.
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