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 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.

Ridley was born in the working class mining town of Stanley, County Durham, the youngest of three girls,[1] and had an upbringing in the Church of England.

[3] Her passion for left-wing, anti-imperialist causes predates her conversion;[3][7] she joined the Labour Party as a teenager before resigning over the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003.

[8] In the days before the beginning of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, after being refused an entrance visa, she decided to follow the example of BBC reporter John Simpson, who had crossed the border anonymously in a burqa.

[10] The publisher of Express Newspapers, Richard Desmond, sent a team of negotiators to talk directly with Taliban officials at the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The British high commissioner to Pakistan, Hilary Synnott, met the Afghan ambassador in Islamabad, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, and asked for her release.

Fulfilling the promise and setting out on what she described as "an academic exercise" she said she was shocked to discover "the Quran makes it clear that women are equal in spirituality, worth, and education.

"[18] After her conversion, she delivered lectures on issues relating to Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir, Uzbekistan, women in Islam, the War on Terror, and journalism at universities across the US, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East.

[19] In it, she expressed worries that officers from Mossad, the Israeli secret service, or from other intelligence agencies, were plotting to have her killed in an effort to boost public support for the war in Afghanistan, having been shown incriminating documents by a journalist for the Arabic channel, Al Jazeera.

[27] Ridley was employed in 2003 by the Qatar-based media organisation Al Jazeera, where, as a senior editor, she helped launch their English-language website.

It was in this paper that an obituary calling Chechen militant Islamist Shamil Basayev a shaheed, a Muslim honorific for "martyr", was published.

[34] In May 2008, in an assignment for Press TV, she and the film-maker David Miller shot a documentary on the Guantanamo Bay detention camp where they filmed on-site and also interviewed former inmates.

[38] In early 2009, Ridley helped organise and took part in the Viva Palestina convoy of around 100 vehicles bearing aid across North Africa to Gaza via the Rafah border.

[43] Ridley stood as an independent candidate in Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West against Labour MP Chi Onwurah in the 2024 general election, coming 4th with 8.8%.

[44] Ridley has given vocal support for Muslim causes involving Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Xinjiang and Uzbekistan at anti-war demonstrations.

"[46] She described the British politician David Miliband, then foreign secretary (and Jewish), on her blog in 2008 as being "a gutless little weasel who lost more than his foreskin when he was circumcised?

[47] At the "Muslimer i Dialog" conference in Copenhagen in September 2005, Ridley was asked by Danish terror expert Lars Erslev Andersen if she saw it as a problem that militant Islamists distribute recruiting videos of Iraqi insurgents killing hostages.

[48][49] She returned to Copenhagen in May 2006 to take part in an Islam Channel conference on Islamophobia, where she urged Muslims not to "kneel before their enemies" or "kiss the hand that slaps them".

"[3] Among her controversial opinions is that the Chechen terrorist leader and architect of the Beslan school massacre, Shamil Basayev, was a 'shaheed' i.e. Islamic martyr.

[3] At a meeting of Respect on 6 June 2006, following the Forest Gate raid, Ridley urged all Muslims in Britain to "boycott the police and refuse to co-operate with them in any way, shape or form until the boys are released", including "asking the community copper for directions to passing the time of day with a beat officer."

"[53] Respect's only MP, George Galloway, quickly distanced himself from her comments, saying Ridley was wrong and, "Our policy is not that we should withdraw co-operation from the police".

They gave them little mementos, Palestinian mementos.” An astonished Hartley-Brewer called Ridley a "Hamas apologist" and said "Acts of kindness from your hostage-taker, the man who's kidnapped you and terrified you and starved you for months?

Yvonne, what's happened to you?”[62] In January 2013, Ridley was scheduled to attend the Spring of Islam Conference organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind in Hyderabad, India.

She was given all necessary clearances by the external affairs ministry, but was denied a visa at the last minute because of the tense situation in Hyderabad following the arrest of controversial local legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi a few days before the event was scheduled to take place.

[68] During her time on the Sunday Sun newsdesk, she told colleagues she was an officer in the Territorial Army, based on Teesside, specialising in intelligence.

[71] She has worked with the non-governmental organisation Protect the Rohingya, when she helped a team of South African lawyers take statements of alleged war crimes from refugees who had fled Myanmar.