Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-03-26

Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, an Indian-origin Muslim woman who spied for Britain in occupied France during World War II and was captured, tortured and executed by the Germans, is being honoured by the Royal Mail with a special stamp.

“I am absolutely thrilled — it’s a great honour for India and for Indian women,” commented London-based historian Kusoom Vadgama who “discovered” Khan while researching for a brochure she published in 1989 on the contribution of Indian soldiers to Britain’s war effort.

“She fought and died for somebody else’s freedom,” added Vadgama, the first Indian to draw attention to the story of Khan, who died aged 30 and would have turned 100 last January.

The stamp — part of a set of 10 stamps in the ‘Remarkable Lives’ series — honours Khan on her centenary year. Other honoured in the set include actor Sir Alec Guinness and poet Dylan Thomas.

“I am delighted that Royal Mail has commemorated Noor with a stamp,” said Shrabani Basu, author of Spy Princess, The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, and the Chair of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust. “It will ensure that her sacrifice and bravery will not be forgotten.”

Noor Inayat Khan was “Born in Moscow in 1914 to an (Indian) Sufi teacher (Hazrat Inayat Khan) and an American mother (Ameena Begum aka Ora Meena Ray Baker), and descended from the 18th-century Tipu Sultan of Mysore.

Khan was brought up in Paris and the family moved to London when Paris was occupied by the Germans in 1940 during WW II. She joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and was later recruited for the Special Operations Executive, a secret organisation started by Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Khan “evaded capture far longer than expected in her role and continued to send important messages to London to aid the French Resistance. She was betrayed, arrested and interrogated, but she refused to give up her secrets. She was executed at Dachau by the Gestapo on 13 September 1944.”

Though she was tortured and interrogated, she revealed nothing, not even her real name. Her last word as they shot her was “Liberte”! She was only 30.

Khan was awarded the highest honour, the George Cross, by Britain. France awarded her the Croix de Guerre.

In 2006, President Pranab Mukherjee, then the Defence Minister, paid an official visit to Khan's family house outside Paris and described her bravery and sacrifice as “inspirational”.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)