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Nadia El-Nakla
Scottish politician and wife of the First Minister of Scotland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nadia Maged El-Nakla (born 1984) is a Scottish psychotherapist, political activist and politician. She was elected as a councillor on Dundee City Council since 2022, representing the West End of Dundee.[1] She is a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP). She is married to Humza Yousaf, the former first minister of Scotland and former leader of the SNP.
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Early life and education
El-Nakla was born in Dundee, Scotland, to a Palestinian father and a Scottish mother.[2][3][4] She gained an MSc in Counselling from Abertay University.[5]
She is a qualified psychotherapist counsellor covering addiction, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders, bereavement and suicidal ideation.[citation needed] She is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.[5]
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Career
El-Nakla worked as a case worker for Shona Robison, the member of the Scottish Parliament for the Dundee City East constituency.[6]
In the 2022 Scottish local elections, El-Nakla stood as an SNP candidate in the Dundee City Council's west end ward 3.[7] She was successful in her election bid and currently sits as a councillor, serving as the equalities spokesperson.[8][9]
Personal life
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El-Nakla was previously married to Fariad Umar, an IT expert, and they had one daughter together.[10] In November 2015, Umar discovered she had an affair with Craig Melville, an SNP councillor, who also later sent racist text messages to her. The Umars filed for divorce.[11][12][13][14]
In 2019, El-Nakla married Humza Yousaf, the future first minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP.[15] She later gave birth to her second daughter, Yousaf's first, and the family lived in Broughty Ferry, a suburb a few miles east of the city of Dundee.[16] In March 2024, the couple announced that they were expecting another child in July.[17]
She has disclosed that she has had four miscarriages.[18]
Her younger brother is Ramsay El-Nakla, who was charged with extortion and abduction in a case linked to a man who died after falling out of a window in Dundee in January 2024.[19] In 2021, El-Nakla told the Daily Record that she had made a complaint of discrimination against a Dundee children's nursery that did not offer a place to her daughter.[20] The Care Inspectorate found that the nursery "did not promote fairness, equality and respect" in terms of its admission policy.[21] She later terminated the legal action.[22]
In October 2023, her parents, Maged and Elizabeth El-Nakla, became trapped in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war; after travelling to the Middle East to visit a sick relative from her father's side, where his Palestinian family relatives still reside.[23] On 3 November, they crossed the border to safety in Egypt.[24][25]
References
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