- Hammasa Kohistani (born 19 December 1985) is a British model of Afghan descent. She became the first Muslim beauty contestant to be crowned Miss England in 2005. She was crowned at the age of 18, following a two-day competition at Liverpool's Olympia Theatre on 3 September 2005, and was chosen from 40 contestants. Shei was born in 1987 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, when it was part of the USSR to Afghan parents who moved there as refugees. During the Soviet-Afghan War her parents fled to what was then the Uzbek SSR in the Soviet Union. She and her parents returned to Kabul, Afghanistan, but in 1996 they escaped from there when the Taliban took control of the city. They eventually made it to the United Kingdom and settled in Southall, in West London, where her father Kushal set up a fast food restaurant. Kohistani studied in London and attended Lampton School in Hounslow and was a student at Uxbridge College.- IMDb Mini Biography By: sp
- She represented England in the Miss World championships in China in December 2005, but despite being one of the favorites, she failed to advance to the semifinal of 16.
- She was known as "Miss Maya" after the Asian fashion house which sponsored her, and was reportedly offered a part in a forthcoming Bollywood movie.
- One of her portraits on stock photo site Getty Images was used as the basis for the face of the extraterrestrial character Tali'Zorah from the Mass Effect series of video games.
- After Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke to members of parliament on the anniversary of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, saying that Muslims needed to curb extremism, she criticised the government as stirring up animosity against Muslims.
- She is of the Afghan Tajik ethnic group.
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