Honoured with a state funeral.

To be given a funeral paid for by the state is one of the highest honours that can be bestowed upon a citizen, alas, it can only be appreciated by relatives, friends and admirers since it takes place post-mortem. In Norway, the practice was first established in 1881, and the government has been quite tight in honouring citizens with such an honour, on average less than once per year. Among those who have been honoured, there are very few women, reflecting the patriarchal world in the past. Some women fighting for gender equality have been honoured, and a couple fighting for samesex relationships. Only one Sami from the ethnic Norwegian community has been given the honour and only two Jews have. Until this week, there had not been a single person with an immigrant background who had been honoured with a state funeral. Last Tuesday, Shabana Rehman, a comedian and public social debater, was honoured with a state funeral held in the beautiful Oslo City Hall, otherwise also used for the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony and other big official functions. The ceremony was organized by the Humanist Ethical Society as requested by Shabana's family. After the ceremony, the actual burial took place in private in the presence only of the immediate family and close friends. For security and privacy reasons, the location has not been revealed. The large and almost two-hour-long ceremony in the Oslo City Hall took place in the presence of the Speaker of Parliament (in Norway called President) Masud Gharakhani, HRH Crown Prince Haakon, Minister of Culture and Equality Anne Trettebergstuen, Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion Marte Mjos Persen, Mayor of Oslo Marianne Borgen, and several other dignitaries, members of the indigenous and immigrant communities, guests from home and abroad, the media, culture, human rights organizations, and the general public. It was particularly moving to listen to Shabana's young nephews and nieces reading a text written by her about working for freedom and equality. The fight for freedom in all senses of the word was Shabana's trademark and calling in life from when she was a teenager till she passed away at the young age of 46, having to give in to pancreatic cancer, diagnosed less than a year ago. Shabana Rehman's family came to Norway from Karachi in 1976 when she was just a year old. She grew up in the new multicultural suburb, Holmlia, in Oslo with her parents and seven siblings. She studied ethics and media at the...