Sabatina James

Sabatina James (born November 1984 ) is the pseudonym of an Austrian Pakistani humanitarian, author and founder of Sabatina e.V. (Friends of the Passion), a non profit organisation based in Germany. She is known for her human rights advocacy, especially for rescuing persecuted Christians in Pakistan and helping Muslim girls in Germany to flee from forced marriage and honour killings.

Escape She survived by sleeping in a youth homeless shelter and working at a local café in Linz. Her parents harassed her at both places, showing up and ordering her to wed. Sabatina escaped to Vienna with the help of friends. There she started a new life, changed her name and was baptized Catholic in 2003. She wrote a book about this experience, and her parents sued for defamation of character. However, the court ruled in her favor. The German police took her into the victim protection program. In 2006 she established Sabatina e.V. (Friends of the Passion) in Hamburg to help victims of forced marriage and Christians persecuted for their faith. A prominent debater, she rose to fame by appearing in several leading Austrian and German TV Shows. In a feature story, the German Spiegel Magazine called her "God's Supermodel".

Career Since 2006, her organization has fought for victims of honour violence and persecuted Christians in Pakistan.

In 2010, she received the "Filippas Engel" Youth Prize by Princess Gabriela zu Sayn Wittgenstein and the Ingrid zu Solms Human Rights Award in Frankfurt.

In 2012, she took part in the international counter-jihad conference in the European Parliament in Brussels, billed as the "International Conference for Free Speech & Human Rights".

In 2014, at the Look! Gala in Vienna, she was honored as "Woman of the year" to spotlight her outstanding achievement for human rights.

Works