10:50am Thursday 24th March 2011
By Neil Docking
A MUSLIM Miss Universe contestant has said she will not be bullied out of the competition despite receiving death threats.
Shanna Bukhari, 24, who was born in Blackburn, said she feared her life could be in danger after her decision to enter the British heats of the beauty pageant sparked a torrent of abuse online.
She is hoping to become the first Muslim woman to represent Great Britain at the competition, but said she has had to hire bodyguards after she received sinister threats.
She said she did not believe the beauty contest was at odds with her Muslim faith.
Miss Bukhari, who now lives in Manchester, said: “What these people are doing is using the fact that I am a Muslim as a tool to attack me with.
“They are saying I'm using my religion, but I’m not making a point of my religion at all, so that is contradictory.”
The English literature graduate progressed through a semi-final stage of the Miss Universe Great Britain contest in February.
But a newspaper article discussing her bid to win the final in May and go on to compete in Miss Universe in Brazil in September led to hundreds of negative comments online.
She said: “I don’t think anybody should be judged for entering a beauty contest and this competition doesn’t define me as a person.
“I am receiving more support than abuse. I’ve received hundreds of emails of support every day.”
Shanna said she was born in Blackburn and went to primary school in Clayton-le-Moors until the age of nine, before moving away.
Lord Patel of Blackburn said: “People have to remember that whatever she decides to do it is down to individual choice.
“Taking part in a beauty contest is not permitted by Islam, but it is her decision.”
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