Tuesday, 8 March 2011

Shami Chakrabarti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Shami Chakrabarti


At Humber Mouth on 28 June 2007
Born 16 June 1969 (1969-06-16) (age 41)
London, England
Alma mater London School of Economics
Occupation Lawyer, Director of Liberty
Spouse (married 1996)
Children 1

Shami Chakrabarti CBE (born 16 June 1969, London), has been the director of Liberty, a British pressure group, since September 2003. Chakrabarti is the Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University.[1]

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[edit] Early life

Shami Chakrabarti (full name Sharmishta Chakrabarti) was raised by Indian-born Hindu-Bengali parents in the suburb of Kenton in the London borough of Harrow. She attended Bentley Wood High School, a girls' comprehensive school, then Harrow Weald Sixth Form College.

After graduating from the London School of Economics and gaining an LLB, Chakrabarti qualified as a barrister in 1994, and worked as a barrister at the Home Office from 1996, before joining human rights organisation Liberty on 10 September 2001.[2] She is an alumna of the British-American Project, which promotes Anglo-American relations.[3][4]

[edit] Liberty

Originally hired as in-house counsel, she was appointed director of Liberty in 2003. As director of the cross-party non-party organisation, she has campaigned against over-broad anti-terrorist measures which followed the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, such as Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA), and is a prominent opponent of recent counter-terrorism legislation.[5] She is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 4 and to various newspapers on the topic of human rights and civil liberties.

In December 2005, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme ran a poll of listeners to establish "who runs Britain". After many hours of debate involving subject matter experts, Today placed Shami Chakrabarti on the shortlist of ten people who may run Britain.

She was shortlisted in the Channel 4 Political Awards 2006 for the "Most Inspiring Political Figure" award. It was voted for by the public and she came second to Jamie Oliver, beating Tony Blair, David Cameron, George Galloway and Bob Geldof.[6]

[edit] Andy Burnham controversy

In June 2008, Andrew Burnham, then British Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, made insinuations in an interview in Progress magazine at Shadow Home Secretary David Davis's resignation over the 42-day detention for terror suspects. Davis, a Conservative MP, was said by Burnham to have had "late-night, hand-wringing, heart-melting phone calls with Shami Chakrabarti." Chakrabarti received an apology from Burnham for his "innuendo and attempted character assassination".[7][8][9]

[edit] Damien Green Controversy

On 18 April 2009, it was reported in The Times and The Daily Telegraph that police who raided the parliamentary office of the Conservative frontbencher Damien Green and arrested him as part of an inquiry into the leaking of Home Office documents had searched through e-mails and computer documents going back a number of years using Chakrabarti's name as one of the keywords. The Times reported her as saying that she believed the actions of Scotland Yard's anti-terror squad "raises very serious questions about just how politicised, even McCarthyite, this operation was...”[10][11]

[edit] London School of Economics

She was on the governing board of the London School of Economics which accepted a £1.5 million donation from Saif Gaddafi, the son of Libyan dictator, Colonel Gaddafi. She has expressed regret at the board's decision although it is unclear how much knowledge she and much of the board had of the donation. Howard Davies, the Director at the time, resigned over the scandal citing 'personal error of judgement' [1]

[edit] Personal life

Chakrabarti is married with one son.

She is a member of the editorial board of the political monthly Total Politics, and a governor of the Ditchley Foundation which aims to promote international, especially Anglo-American, relations.[12] Discussions at the Ditchley Foundation are private and non-attributable.

She is Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, a member of the Council and Court of Governors of the London School of Economics and a governor of the British Film Institute, a Visiting Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford and a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours.[13] In 2005, the British band The Dastards recorded a song written by Jonathan King in Chakrabarti's honour entitled "Shami Chakrabarti".[14] She was featured on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in December 2008 and appeared on Have I Got News for You in May 2008. Chakrabarti received an honorary doctorate from the School of Law at University of Southampton in a graduation ceremony on 21 July 2010.[15]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Director of Liberty appointed University Chancellor". Oxford Brookes University. 16 June 2008. http://www.brookes.ac.uk/about/news/newchancellor. 
  2. ^ "Desert Island Discs featuring Shami Chakrabarti". Desert Island Discs. BBC. Radio 4. 2 November 2008.
  3. ^ http://www.baponline.org/conferences.html
  4. ^ Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (March 17, 2008). "This unhealthy strain of left-wing McCarthyism". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yasmin-alibhai-brown/yasmin-alibhaibrown-this-unhealthy-strain-of-leftwing-mccarthyism-796804.html. 
  5. ^ Chakrabarti, Shami (20 May 2007). "So much freedom lost and on my watch". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3639988/So-much-freedom-lost-and-on-my-watch.html. Retrieved 23 May 2010. 
  6. ^ Channel 4 Political Awards 2007.Channel4.com. Retrieved on 30 November 2008
  7. ^ Patrick Wintour "Chakrabarti threatens to sue over Minister's jibe", The Guardian, 20 June 2008
  8. ^ James Chapman "I may sue over David Davis slur, civil rights chief warns Minister", Daily Mail, 19 June 2008
  9. ^ Robert Winnett "Andy Burnham writes letter of apology to Shami Chakrabarti for David Davis comments", Daily Telegraph, 21 June 2008
  10. ^ Sylvester, Rachel; Thomson, Alice (18 April 2009). "Shami Chakrabarti was target in police search". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6116023.ece. Retrieved 20 October 2009. 
  11. ^ Edwards, Richard; Prince, Rosa; Wardrop, Murray (18 April 2009). "Damian Green raid: police search emails for Liberty head". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5174991/Damian-Green-raid-police-search-emails-for-Liberty-head.html. Retrieved 20 October 2009. [dead link]
  12. ^ "The Governors". Ditchley Foundation. http://www.ditchley.co.uk/page/64/the-governors.htm. Retrieved 17 June 2009. 
  13. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58358, p. 7, 16 June 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2008.
  14. ^ Shami Chakrabarti Lyrics - by The Dastards Dastards.com Retrieved on 30 November 2008
  15. ^ "UK to honour Shami Chakrabarti with honorary degree". The Times Of India. 8 July 2010. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/UK-to-honour-Shami-Chakrabarti-with-honorary-degree/articleshow/6142548.cms. Retrieved 21 July 2010. 

[edit] External links

Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by
John Wadham		 Director of Liberty
2003 – present		 Incumbent
Academic offices
Preceded by
Jon Snow		 Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University
2008 – present		 Incumbent
Persondata
Name Chakrabarti, Shami
Alternative names
Short description Lawyer, Director of Liberty
Date of birth 1969-6-16
Place of birth London, England
Date of death
Place of death

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