Saira Shah

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Saira Shah (born 5 October 1964) is an author, reporter and documentary filmmaker. She produces, writes and narrates current affairs films.

Shah was born in London and raised in Kent, England. She was educated at Bryanston School and read Arabic and Persian at the School of Oriental and Afrian Studies, University of London, graduating in 1986. Her father, now deceased, was Idries Shah, a Scottish/Afghan writer of Sufi fables. Part of his family was originally from Paghman, Afghanistan. Her mother was half-Indian and half-British.

Her first trip to Afghanistan was when she was 21 years old. She worked for 3 years in Peshawar as a reporter covering the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. She has also worked as a journalist for Channel 4 News, which she left in 2001.

She married and divorced (after 5 years) a Swiss reporter, whom she met in Peshawar.

Shah worked with James Miller (filmmaker) on several projects including the films Beneath the Veil (2001), Unholy War (2001) and Death in Gaza (2004). She won a Current Affairs BAFTA for Death in Gaza. She also appeared on the television programme Breakfast with Frost on 10 August 2003.

She currently lives in London.