Lauren Booth

Sarah Jane Booth was born and grew up in predominantly Jewish Golders Green, North West London. Booth is a half-sister of Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the daughter of actor Tony Booth. She trained as an actress at the London Academy of Performing Arts and then spent several years touring Europe with various regional theatre companies.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Booth was not raised in any religion, though her father was raised a Catholic{{cite web|url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/how-streets-pat-phoenix-saved-3501865.html|title=How Street's Pat Phoenix saved my life|work=Liverpool Echo|date=8 May 2013}} and her mother, who was purported to be Jewish, was a Christian.{{cite web |date=14 September 2023 |title=Lauren Booth's Amazing Journey to Islam |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqewgzcesiw |website=YouTube}} Her parents never married each other. She has a sister, Emma, along with Cherie and five other half-sisters.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

In 1997, Booth entered journalism. Her earliest writing experiences were with the London Evening Standard, writing the column 'About Town'. In 1999, she began to write for the political magazine, the New Statesman, where she remained for four years. At the same time, she began writing columns and features for The Mail on Sunday as a columnist.{{cite web|url=http://www.laurenbooth.org.uk/?page_id=2|title=About|work=Lauren Booth|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219011841/http://www.laurenbooth.org.uk/?page_id=2|archivedate=19 December 2013}}

In 2006, she was a contestant on the ITV reality show, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

Between 2006 and 2008 Booth presented In Focus on the UK's Islam Channel. She has had a long association with the Iranian owned Press TV, starting with Between The Headlines in 2008. Between 2010 and 2012 she presented Remember Palestine{{cite web|url=http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb163/issue163.pdf|title=Offcom Broadcast Bulletin|date=2 August 2010|work=Ofcom|page=25}} and Diaspora.

In 2014, she presented her own series on the newly launched British Muslim TV, called Talking Booth. In 2014, she took a senior producer post at Al Jazeera in Doha, and was let go a few months later.

Booth was a vocal opponent of the Iraq War giving speeches at many rallies against the invasion. She is an outspoken activist and a supporter of the Stop the War Coalition.{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/protest-marks-10-years-of-afghan-84308|title=Protest marks 10 years of Afghan war|date=9 October 2011|work=Daily Mirror}}

In August 2008 she traveled to Gaza by ship from Cyprus, along with 46 other activists,{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27814&Cr=palestin&Cr1|title=Gaza: UN expert welcomes landing of ships carrying human rights activists|work=UN News Centre|date=25 August 2008}} to highlight the blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver hearing aids and balloons to a school for the deaf in Gaza. She was subsequently refused entry into both Israel and Egypt. She claimed that by refusing her the right to leave Gaza and return to her home country, Israel was in breach of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically regarding freedom of movement.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7593921.stm|title=Blair's relative 'stuck in Gaza'|date=2 September 2008|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=16 November 2014}}

Booth stated that Gaza is "the largest concentration camp in the world today", although The Jerusalem Post claimed that several photographs of Booth in a well-stocked Gaza grocery "bel[ied] the grim picture she painted of the Strip". During her visit, she received a Palestinian VIP passport from Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/2669602/Tony-Blairs-sister-in-law-Lauren-Booth-trapped-in-Gaza.html|title=Tony Blair's sister-in-law Lauren Booth 'trapped' in Gaza|work=The Telegraph|date=2 September 2008|location=London, UK}} Booth left Gaza through the Rafah Border Crossing into Egypt on 20 September 2008. In 2009, she returned to Gaza with the aid convoy Viva Palestina, set up by the British politician George Galloway. Since 2012 she has returned on several occasions as the Chair of Trustees with the charity she co-founded, Peace Trail, delivering assistance to students and families in the region. {{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

In 2010, Booth Converted to Islam a few years after her visit to Palestine, and became a practising Muslim.{{cite news|url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/406171/Tony-Blair-s-Muslim-sister-in-law-Lauren-Booth|title=Tony Blair's Muslim sister-in-law, Lauren Booth|last=Kemble|first=Harry|date=9 June 2013|work=Daily Express|accessdate=16 November 2014}} Booth appeared at the Islam Channel's Global Peace and Unity event on 23 October 2010, wearing a hijab, stating: "My name is Lauren Booth, and I am a Muslim."{{Cite web|url=https://www.arabianbusiness.com/tony-blair-s-sister-in-law-confirms-conversion-islam-358222.html|title=Tony Blair's sister-in-law confirms conversion to Islam|website=Arabian Business|date=26 October 2010}} She attributed her awakening to her experiences in Palestine as a reporter.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/tony-blairs-sister-in-law-converts-to-islam-2115645.html|title=Tony Blair's sister-in-law converts to Islam|date=25 October 2010|website=The Independent}}

In June 2011, Booth joined Cageprisoners as a patron.{{cite web|url=http://www.cageprisoners.com/our-work/alerts/item/1735-update-lauren-booth-and-sami-al-hajj-join-cageprisoners-as-patrons|title=UPDATE: Lauren Booth and Sami Al Hajj join Cageprisoners as patrons|work=Cageprisoners|date=28 June 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701193721/http://www.cageprisoners.com/our-work/alerts/item/1735-update-lauren-booth-and-sami-al-hajj-join-cageprisoners-as-patrons|archivedate=1 July 2011}} However, from 2015 Booth was no longer a patron of the organisation.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

Lauren Booth, another trustee of Peacetrail and the chief executive, her husband Sohale Ahmed, were disqualified from holding any trustee positions after the Charity Commission could not account for about half Peacetrail's income.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/cherie-blairs-half-sister-removed-trusteeship-islamic-charity/governance/article/1455691|title=Cherie Blair's half-sister removed from trusteeship of Islamic charity|website=ThirdSector|date=29 January 2018}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{Journalisted|lauren-booth}}
• {{YouTube|Mhv6u2OR_8g|Interview with Lauren Booth on Press TV about her conversion to Islam}}
• {{LinkedIn URL|https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-booth-02510427}}
• [https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/lauren-booth Lauren Booth] at The Huffington Post

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Lauren}}

Category:1967 births

Category:Living people

Category:Converts to Shia Islam

Category:English people of Irish descent

Category:English anti-war activists

Category:English women journalists

Category:English Muslims

Category:People from Islington (district)

Category:Press TV people

Category:British women activists

Category:British Muslim activists

Category:English people of Jewish descent

Category:British Shia Muslims

Category:British anti-Zionists

Category:Journalists from London

Category:English activists for Palestinian solidarity