Lauren Booth

Lauren Booth shows her Palestinian Diplomatic Passport after being presented with it by Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya on 28 August 2008

Lauren Booth (born Sarah Booth 22 July 1967 in Islington, London) is a British broadcaster, journalist and human rights activist .

Journalism

As a journalist, Booth has written for the New Statesman, the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail. She is a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq and a supporter of the Stop the War Coalition; a member of Woodcraft Folk, Media Workers Against the War and the National Union of Journalists. She has been a panellist on the BBC's Have I Got News For You, and a broadcaster on radio and television. She writes columns and features, mainly for the Mail on Sunday. She regularly reviews the UK newspapers on television for Sky News, BBC One and BBC News 24.

In both 2005 and 2006 Booth traveled to the West Bank where she has interviewed Mahmoud Abbas. She gave two speeches on the condition of those living in the West Bank and Gaza, for the Royal Geographical Society and Arab Media Watch. Booth is involved in the V-Day movement, a movement against violence towards women.

As of 2010, Booth presents ‘In Focus’ on the UK's Islam Channel, and ‘Between The Headlines’ on Press TV.

Gaza

In August 2008 she traveled to Gaza by ship from Cyprus, along with 46 other activists, to highlight the blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver hearing aids and balloons to a deaf school in Gaza. Booth elected to remain behind in Gaza, and was subsequently refused entry into both Israel and Egypt. She said that she believed that, by refusing her the right to leave Gaza and return to her home country, Israel and Egypt were in breach of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically regarding freedom of movement . Booth also said that she believed the "situation in Gaza is a humanitarian crisis on the scale of Darfur" and called Gaza "the largest concentration camp in the world today," Booth left Gaza through the Rafah Border Crossing into Egypt on 20 September.

Family

Lauren Booth is a half-sister of Cherie Blair and the sixth daughter of the actor Tony Booth. She is the sister-in-law of former British prime minister Tony Blair. She is married to actor Craig Darby, has two children called Alexandra and Holly and a home in the South of France.

See Also

• Al Quds Day letter to Tony Blair Laren Booths letter to her brother-in-kaw Tony Blair on the occasion of the publication of his political memoir.
• Document:I'm now a Muslim. Why all the shock and horror? News that Lauren Booth has converted to Islam provoked a storm of negative comments. Here she explains how it came about – and why it's time to stop patronising Muslim women