Catherine Heseltine Elected MPACUK's CEO

The Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK) is proud to announce that our new Chief Executive Officer is Catherine Heseltine. Since joining MPACUK in 2003, Catherine has made a consistently outstanding contribution to the work of the organisation. Her various roles have included working as the head of our campaigns team, appearing on television documentaries including Channel 4's 'Women Only Jihad', as a media spokesperson and mentoring new members.

Catherine is an English born revert to Islam and her election victory sets an historic precedent. In true pioneering spirit, MPACUK is the first British Muslim organisation to elect a woman as their CEO. We believe Catherine’s leadership will enhance MPACUK’s work in defending the civil rights of Muslims.

Catherine was born in 1978 and grew up in Islington, North London. She attended Westminster School and went on to do a BA in Education at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She became Muslim in 1999 while at University. She has worked for 10 years as a nursery teacher in London schools but is now taking on the role of CEO of MPACUK full-time. Her interests outside of her campaigning and community work include sports (tennis, sailing and skiing).

When asked about her historic achievement in being elected to lead a major national British Muslim organisation, she replied "I hope that this historic step will be a landmark in the development of a new wave of Muslim women leaders and will spark a revolution in the way Muslim women are enabled to contribute their talents in the service of both the Muslim community and wider society."

About MPACUK: The Muslim Public Affairs Committee is a civil rights group that campaigns on issues affecting Muslims in the UK and abroad. MPACUK runs Britain’s biggest Muslim website and has made numerous media appearances.



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How Greece Welcomes Its Female Muslims

Islam Online has an interview with Anna Stamou, A Greek Revert sister who is also a board member of Muslim Association of Greece.

For those who are interested, can read the interview here.

The Muslim Association of Greece website in English here.

From the website:

There are an estimated 830 000 – 1 000 000 Muslims in Greece.

The Muslim community in Greece is made up of people from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and national origins.

In Thrace, North East of Greece, a Muslim community of about 120 000 Muslims is based. More specifically, 50 percent of Thrace’s Muslims are of Turkish origin, 35 percent are Pomaks, and 15 percent are Roma people. Each has its own language and traditions. They have their own imams, mosques, cemeteries, schools, etc. but they are all united as this population was exempted from applying the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne VI, 1923; a treaty which aimed at applying an obligatory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey following World War I.

The majority of Muslims in Greece comprises of immigrants who had settled in Greece during the last 40 years coming mainly from Arab countries and partly from other Muslim lands, like Pakistan. These Muslims, who are approximately 700 000 living all over Greece, have a variety of occupations, not only as low-profession workers who are estimated at 90 percent of the total immigrant percentage. Some of these immigrants have better opportunities and work in high-professions, so there are doctors, scientists, professors, entrepreneurs, businessmen, and importers.

And then there are Greeks who embraced Islam after studying it, or after getting married to Muslims whereby they had the chance to meet Muslims and interact with them. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions around the world.