Mehria Ashuftah

Mehria Ashuftah (born in 1987 in Kabul, Afghanistan) came to Germany with her family as a toddler and grew up under difficult conditions in a refugee shelter in Hamburg. Despite a challenging start in life, she earned her high school diploma at Langenhorn High School. She then studied law at the University of Hamburg, completed her legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig, and passed the Second State Examination in Law. Today, she works as an attorney and is a lecturer at the University of Hamburg.

For many years, Mehria Ashuftah has volunteered to promote equal opportunity, inclusion, and the protection of human rights. She is the founder and director of the “Know Your Rights” project, a spin-off of the Refugee Law Clinic Hamburg. In addition, she serves on the board of the feminist women’s association Dolle Deerns e. V., which supports women and girls at seven locations, and is a patron of the Hamburg Student Services Organization. She is also co-state chair of the SPD Working Group on Migration & Diversity in Hamburg and, since 2026, has served as co-national chair of the SPD Working Group on Migration & Diversity alongside Orkan Özdemir.

Since March 2025, Mehria Ashuftah has been a member of the Hamburg Parliament for the SPD and is the first SPD member of the state parliament born in Afghanistan. She is a member of the Budget Committee, the Justice Committee, the Committee on Equality and Anti-Discrimination, and the Committee on Culture and Media.

As a lawyer, politician, and public speaker, Mehria Ashuftah advocates for social justice, democracy, women’s rights, anti-discrimination, and social cohesion. She takes a firm stand against all forms of extremism, anti-Semitism, and misanthropy. Her own life story embodies her conviction that one’s background does not determine one’s future and that equal opportunities, education, and social participation are the foundation of a strong democracy.