In the 1980s, Abu-Hanna was a member of the
Helsinki City Council (for the
Green Party) and a member of the Real Estate Board of Helsinki. In the 1990s, she was a journalist, documentary maker and columnist. She became known to the wider public as the first non-white presenter of the weekly current affairs news-program
Ajankohtainen Kakkonen at the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE. In the 2000s, she was member of the
Arts Council Finland (2004–2009) and was the first chair of its Multicultural Board. Abu-Hanna was also the
cultural diversity adviser of the
Finnish National Gallery. Her first novel,
Nurinkurin, was published in 2003. Her book on identity,
Sinut, was published in 2007. A manual for the cultural field,
Multikulti, was published in 2012. A cultural history of modern Helsinki,
Alienin Silmin, was published in 2014. She co-authored
A changing world, perspectives on heritage, with case studies of museums in Afghanistan. == Bibliography ==