Yvonne Ridley

Yvonne Ridley
Ridley in 2010
Born (1958-04-23) 23 April 1958 (age 66)
Consett, County Durham, England[1]
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Journalist, author, and politician
Websiteyvonneridley.org

Yvonne Ridley (born 23 April 1958) is a British journalist, author and politician who holds several committee positions with the Alba Party[citation needed] in Scotland. She was a former chair of the National Council of the now-defunct Respect Party.[citation needed] Ridley made global headlines when she was captured by the Taliban in 2001 after the events of 9/11 and before the start of the U.S.-led war. Two years later she converted to Islam. She is a vocal supporter of Palestine,[2] which she took up as a schoolgirl in her native County Durham. She is an avid critic of Zionism and of Western media portrayals and foreign policy in the war on terror, and has undertaken speaking tours throughout the Muslim world as well as America, Europe and Australia.[3] She has been called "something close to a celebrity in the Islamic world" by the journalist Rachel Cooke, and in 2008 Ridley said that she had been voted the "most recognisable woman in the Islamic world" by Islam Online.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference emelcap was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Karagiannis, Emmanuel (2 January 2018). The New Political Islam: Human Rights, Democracy, and Justice. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812249729.
  3. ^ a b Cooke, Rachel (6 July 2008). "Free radical". The Observer. Retrieved 2 April 2017.