Shabana Rehman is dead

Comedian, writer, author and social debater Shabana Rehman has died. She lived to be 46 years old.

The case is updated.

Bridge Shakeel Rehman confirms this in a post on Facebook on Thursday.

“It is with bottomless sadness that I have to announce that our much-loved irreplaceable sister, daughter, aunt, friend, centerpiece, cheerleader and pride passed away peacefully this morning,” he writes.

Rehman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer with spread in January 2022. Over the past year, she has been open about her life with the disease. Shakeel Rehman writes that the sister has been hospitalized for the past eight days.

“She has fought hard and never given up hope. She wanted to live on for her family, her love and for the country that she loved so immensely. But lately, the body has not been able to do more. The disease emaciated her.

It has been a pleasure and an honor for me to have had you as my sister Shabana. Always been so fond of you and proud of you. Deeply missed forever,” he writes.

Rehman started as a columnist in VG in 1996 and debuted as a stand-up comedian three years later. She was a columnist in Dagbladet for seven years from 2000 and later in Aftenposten.

Rehman gained particular attention when she appeared in Dagbladet in 2000, wearing only body paint with the Norwegian flag. In 2004, it caused a stir when she lifted Mullah Krekar during an event in Oslo.

From 2017 to 2020, she was head of the foundation “Born free”. In 2020, Shabana Rehman became a member of the government’s Freedom of Expression Commission.

Over the past year, Aftenposten has been able to follow Rehman closely through the podcast documentary Shabana’s world. It gives an insight into her everyday life with terminal cancer.

Since this summer, Rehman has received treatment at a clinic in Germany.