Salma Yaqoob is the leader, and former vice-chair, of the Respect Party and a Birmingham City Councillor. She is also the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and a spokesperson for Birmingham Central Mosque.
In 2006, Yaqoob received the Lloyds TSB Asian Jewel Award for Public Service Excellence while Harper’s Bazaar magazine named her in the top thirty list of British women, alongside Kate Winslet, all of whom they considered to be the most powerful in the UK.
In 2008, she was voted to eleventh place in the Birmingham Post’s Power 50 list of the most influential people in the city. She was included in the newspaper’s list again in 2009 at number 24.
In 2009, Yaqoob was included in the Muslim Women Power List run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in association with The Times and Emel magazine.
According to The Guardian newspaper, Yaqoob is “the most prominent Muslim woman in British public life“.
Over a four month period, I have tried to contact Salma via email on several occasions, Twitter (twice) and have also left messages on her mobile telephone.
Unfortunately, none of these attempts have been successful, and to date, my requests for an interview have gone unanswered, and I have not received any replies whatsoever.
I can only deduct from this that Salma is not interested in taking part.
Unfortunately, there appears to be no image or photograph of Salma available via Creative Commons licensed outlets – only images with ‘All Rights Reserved’ licenses are available.