Mehria Ashuftah
Mehria Ashuftah | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Hamburg Parliament | |
| Assumed office 2025 | |
| Constituency | State list |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 November 1987 Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Party | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
| Occupation |
|
Mehria Ashuftah (born 3 November 1987) is a German politician serving as a Social Democratic member of the Hamburg Parliament since 2025. Prior to her election, she worked as a lawyer and law lecturer.
Biography
Ashuftah was born in Kabul on 3 November 1987.[1] Her parents both worked as teachers, with her father being an aircraft engineer.[2] Shortly after her first birthday, her parents fled with her via Pakistan to a refugee shelter in Groß Borstel, with her father and two uncles being political dissidents.[2] Her journey involved "trekk[ing] for three days over the mountains to Pakistan" with more than a dozen people.[2] She worked at a Pakistani refugee camp with her father and later graduated from Gymnasium Langenhorn.[2]
Inspired by her aunt (who worked as a lawyer back in Afghanistan),[2] Ashuftah studied law at the University of Hamburg and completed her rechtsreferendariat at the Schleswig-Holstein Higher Regional Court.[1] Afterwards, she became a lawyer, as well as a lecturer at the University of Hamburg Faculty of Law.[2] She has also served as a lecturer at the Institute for Democracy, Diversity, and Leadership at the Hamburg Police Academy, as well as a board member for Dolle Deerns e.V., a patron for the Hamburg Student Union, and a values ambassador for GermanDream.[2] She also founded the Refugee Law Center branch RLC-#KnowYourRights.[2] She also ran a direct marketing company with her ex-husband.[2]
Following the publication of the 2010 anti-multiculturalist book Germany Abolishes Itself,[3] Ashuftah joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany in January 2011.[1] She held several positions within Jusos for the first seven years at SPD.[1] In February 2024, she joined the SPD Hamburg-Nord district executive committee and became chair of the SPD Groß Borstel district committee.[1]
Ashuftah was elected to the Hamburg Parliament in the 2025 Hamburg state election through the SPD's state list.[4] At the Parliament, she is a member of the Budget Committee, as well as the Committees on Culture and Media; on Equality and Anti-Discrimination; and on Justice and Consumer Protection.[5]
Ashuftah was married to a German man from 2007 until their divorce in 2014.[2] In 2025, she told the Hamburger Abendblatt about her experiences of being a victim of spousal abuse, including death threats he made against her and her family.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Mehria Ashuftah". SPD-Fraktion Hamburg (in German). Archived from the original on 1 January 2026. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tesche, Sabine (3 January 2025). "Warum an diese Mutmacherin erst keiner glauben wollte". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Retrieved 30 December 2025.
- ^ Jordan, Jonas (10 March 2025). "Mehria Ashuftah: Aus dem Flüchtlingsheim in die Hamburger Bürgerschaft". Vorwärts (in German). Archived from the original on 13 December 2025. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
- ^ "Ergebnisse Bürgerschaftswahl 2025 in Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg". www.wahlen-hamburg.de (in German). Retrieved 30 December 2025.
- ^ "Mehria Ashuftah". Hamburg Parliament (in German). Archived from the original on 14 November 2025. Retrieved 30 December 2025.