Khan is from
Birmingham, West Midlands, and is of Pakistani and Bosnian origins. On 8 April 2017, aged 20, she was photographed standing up to Ian Crossland, the leader of the English Defence League (EDL), a far-right group, during an anti-Muslim demonstration organised in Birmingham the day after
the Westminster attack. Having come to observe the demonstration in order to support the “people they harass and attack”, Saffiyah Khan stepped in to protect a veiled woman, Saira Zafar, who was being harassed by several demonstrators. The photograph, taken by Joe Giddens, of the
Press Association agency was relayed by many British media including
The Guardian,
The Daily Telegraph,
The Daily Mirror and the
BBC before the story took on an international dimension. It resonates with other shots illustrating recent resistance movements. On 1 May 2016 Simon Lindberg photographed
Tess Asplund facing neo-
Nazis in
Borlänge,
Sweden. Three months later, Jonathan Bachman captured
Ieshia Evans face-to-face with police during a
Black Lives Matter protest in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Music Khan was noticed by members of the Specials because she was wearing one of their T-shirts in the images shot the day of the demonstration. She was invited by singer Lynval Golding to one of their upcoming concerts. She performed the track with the band at London's
100 Club in February 2019, subsequently touring with, and DJing for, the band.
Modelling In the spring of 2017, Khan took her first steps on the catwalk during the fashion show of Turkish designer
Dilara Fındıkoğlu. She then engaged with the modeling agency
Elite and its Collective division which represents talents rather than professional models. == References ==