Biography
As a young girl, she already had an ambition for professional reporting. Stimulated at 14 by the publication of a letter she sent to the Evening Chronicle in Newcastle, she was determined to become a journalist. At 16, she wrote to every newspaper group in the UK and subsequently she attended a journalism course at the London College of Printing. Since then she has written for The Sunday Times, The Independent on Sunday, The Observer, The Mirror and the News of the World and she was deputy editor of Wales on Sunday. She was chief reporter when the Sunday Express, sent her to Afghanistan after 9/11.
She has also worked as a broadcaster, producer and presenter on programmes for BBC TV and radio, CNN, ITN and Carlton TV travelling to Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza and the West Bank. A founder member of Women in Journalism, she was also a promoter of women’s rights, although after she converted to Islam, she publicly criticised some aspects of the 'sisterhood' promoted by Western feminism. She is also a founder member of the Stop The War Coalition and the RESPECT political party.
In her spare time Ridley travels throughout the UK and across the globe promoting peace and the anti-war message. She has also delivered lectures on issues relating to Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir and Uzbekistan, Women in Islam, the War on Terror and journalism at universities across the US, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East. Ridley is a founder member of the Friends of Islam, an All Party Parliamentary Group and Women in Journalism. In addition she is a member of the National Union of Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, a founder of Women in Journalism, and is also a member of the Society of Authors. She has written two books called "In The Hands of the Taliban" and "Ticket to Paradise" and is currently writing and researching for two other titles including a biography of Osama bin Laden. Ridley is a patron of the UK-based pressure groups Cageprisoners and Hhugs. She also devotes much of her time to humanitarian work and charities.
Read more about this topic: Yvonne Ridley
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