Yvonne Ridley

Yvonne Ridley, 2010

Yvonne Ridley (* 1959 in Stanley, County Durham , England ) is a British journalist , war correspondent and Islam Konvertitin . Ridley currently works as a freelance journalist for the English language Iranian news channel Press TV .

Taliban imprisonment and conversion to Islam

After the 9/11 attacks , her then employer, the Sunday Express , sent her to Afghanistan. Shortly before, the Taliban had asked all foreigners to leave the country and threatened to kill anyone using satellite telephones.

Since she did not get a visa as a journalist, Ridley decided to anonymously cross the border in a burqa, modeled on the BBC reporter John Simpson . The Afghan side discovered their illegal entry and arrested Ridley and their leaders near Jalalabad . After spending a week in solitary confinement, she was transferred to Kabul. In prison there she met the Christian missionary Heather Mercer .

That same week, the British began bombing targets in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom . Thereafter, the Taliban leader Mohammed Omar Ridley's release, for which he cited "humanitarian reasons"; their companions, however, were still detained.

After her release, Ridley reported that she had promised to read the Koran while in captivity . This changed her life. She referred to the Koran as the “ Magna Carta for women”. In the summer of 2003, Ridley converted to Islam.

Private

Ridley is a second married. When she met her first husband Daoud Zaaroura in Cyprus, he was a PLO colonel . She had a daughter from him in 1992.

Web links

Yvonne Ridley's website
Their party's website
Yvonne Ridley audio and video lectures from Halal Tube
"Video media of Yvonne Ridley Explaining Her Kidnap Ordeal, Islam and Women Clears Misconceptions" , www.TurnToIslam.com , April 25, 2006. - webpage with 1-hour long interview.
"Yvonne Ridley" , BBC Inside Out - North East & Cumbria , October 6, 2003.
"Online Journalist Profile: Yvonne Ridley, Al-Jazeera.net" , interview by Jemima Kiss, Journalism.co.uk , January 10, 2004.
Yvonne Ridley's account of her experience with Afghanistan and Islam , Muslim Students' Association NY , March 23, 2006. MP3 audio.
"Stop collaboration with police" , Ezania.net . - contains a link to an MP3 file of the BBC 4 interview of June 7, 2006 in which Yvonne Ridley urges Muslims not to cooperate with the London Police.
How I Came To Love The Veil - Yvonne Ridley on the subject of veiling.
Yvonne Ridley interview in The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

Individual evidence

↑ "The women in the war zone - Yvonne Ridley, who is under Taliban arrest, is one of a whole new breed of female war correspondent"
↑ "'An antidote to Fox': Iran launches English TV channel - Report of Glasgow attack says event staged by Britain to discredit Muslims"
↑ "Hit by friendly fire - Yvonne Ridley's attempt to sneak into Afghanistan was a disaster, but that doesn't make her a bad mother, as some critics suggested. Her real crime, she says, was being a tabloid reporter"
^ "Taliban arrests woman journalist" - September 28, 2001
↑ "British woman reporter is interrogated by Taliban - Arrested journalist was 'dressed as Afghan'" - September 29, 2001
^ "British reporter may face Taliban spy charges" - September 30, 2001
^ "Fears grow for arrested reporter" - September 28, 2001
↑ Taliban seize express reporter "
^ "Fears for safety of British journalist held by Taliban"
^ "British journalist to face trial, say Taliban - Captive Ridley on spy charge after using camera"
↑ "Scorn over British writer 'spy' claim"
^ "Journalist faces spy charge investigation - Writer well treated, says news agency"
^ "Taliban plans to put journalist on trial - War on terrorism: Detainee"
^ "Taliban dash hopes of Ridley's early release"
^ "Ridley release delayed"
↑ "What happened next"
^ "Fears for British journalist increase" - October 7, 2001
↑ "Ridley's whereabouts unknown" - 8 October 2001
^ "Dread for missing daughter - Air strikes may have jeopardized planned release of the British journalist Yvonne Ridley" - October 8, 2001
^ "Hopes rise for British journalist's release" - October 7, 2001
↑ "British journalist to be freed by Taliban"
^ "Ridley set free, claim Taliban" - October 8, 2001
↑ "Ridley 'Deported' to Pakistan" - October 8, 2001
^ "Daughter of Ridley's guide in Taliban jail"
↑ "Family of British reporter's guide flung into jail in Taliban purge" - October 21, 2001
↑ YouTube - Yvonne Ridley on the Taliban (MSU)
↑ "Articles of faith - Yvonne Ridley was a hard-drinking, hard-nosed news reporter until her capture by the Taliban and subsequent conversion to Islam. She tells Eloise Napier how the Koran changed her life" - February 24, 2004
↑ BBC NEWS | Programs | A Muslim in the family
↑ Observer Woman, July 2008 no.31
^ "British journalist is seized by Taliban" , By David Blair in Peshawar, Tom Leonard and Paul Stokes, The Daily Telegraph (online), September 29, 2001

personal data
SURNAME	Ridley, Yvonne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British journalist, war correspondent and convert to Islam
DATE OF BIRTH	1959
PLACE OF BIRTH	Stanley, County Durham , England

[1] "The women in the war zone - Yvonne Ridley, who is under Taliban arrest, is one of a whole new breed of female war correspondent"

[2] "'An antidote to Fox': Iran launches English TV channel - Report of Glasgow attack says event staged by Britain to discredit Muslims"

[3] "Hit by friendly fire - Yvonne Ridley's attempt to sneak into Afghanistan was a disaster, but that doesn't make her a bad mother, as some critics suggested. Her real crime, she says, was being a tabloid reporter"

[4] "Taliban arrests woman journalist" - September 28, 2001

[5] "British woman reporter is interrogated by Taliban - Arrested journalist was 'dressed as Afghan'" - September 29, 2001

[6] "British reporter may face Taliban spy charges" - September 30, 2001

[7] "Fears grow for arrested reporter" - September 28, 2001

[8] Taliban seize express reporter "

[9] "Fears for safety of British journalist held by Taliban"

[10] "British journalist to face trial, say Taliban - Captive Ridley on spy charge after using camera"

[11] "Scorn over British writer 'spy' claim"

[12] "Journalist faces spy charge investigation - Writer well treated, says news agency"

[13] "Taliban plans to put journalist on trial - War on terrorism: Detainee"

[14] "Taliban dash hopes of Ridley's early release"

[15] "Ridley release delayed"

[16] "What happened next"

[17] "Fears for British journalist increase" - October 7, 2001

[18] "Ridley's whereabouts unknown" - 8 October 2001

[19] "Dread for missing daughter - Air strikes may have jeopardized planned release of the British journalist Yvonne Ridley" - October 8, 2001

[20] "Hopes rise for British journalist's release" - October 7, 2001

[21] "British journalist to be freed by Taliban"

[22] "Ridley set free, claim Taliban" - October 8, 2001

[23] "Ridley 'Deported' to Pakistan" - October 8, 2001

[24] "Daughter of Ridley's guide in Taliban jail"

[25] "Family of British reporter's guide flung into jail in Taliban purge" - October 21, 2001

[26] YouTube - Yvonne Ridley on the Taliban (MSU)

[27] "Articles of faith - Yvonne Ridley was a hard-drinking, hard-nosed news reporter until her capture by the Taliban and subsequent conversion to Islam. She tells Eloise Napier how the Koran changed her life" - February 24, 2004

[28] BBC NEWS | Programs | A Muslim in the family

[29] Observer Woman, July 2008 no.31

[30] "British journalist is seized by Taliban" , By David Blair in Peshawar, Tom Leonard and Paul Stokes, The Daily Telegraph (online), September 29, 2001