| Shami Chakrabarti | |
|---|---|
At Humber Mouth on 28 June 2007 |
|
| Born | Sharmishta Chakrabarti 16 June 1969 London, England |
| Residence | Lambeth, South London |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics |
| Occupation | Lawyer, Director of Liberty |
| Spouse | Martyn Hopper (married 1995) |
| 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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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. Her father Mintoo, was a bookkeeper and Chakrabarti cites his influence in her gaining an interest in civil liberties. She attended Bentley Wood High School, a girls' comprehensive school, then Harrow Weald Sixth Form College.[2]
Chakrabarti was an active member of the SDP before starting her career.[3] 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.[4] She is an alumna of the British-American Project, which promotes Anglo-American relations.[5][6]
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.[7] She is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 4 and to various newspapers on the topic of human rights and civil liberties and was described in The Observer as making "seemingly endless appearances on Question Time and the rolling news bulletins".[8] She was also described in The Times newspaper as "the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years" [9]
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.[10]
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".[11][12][13]
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 Damian 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...”[14][15]
She was on the governing board of the London School of Economics which accepted a £1.5 million donation from Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi. She was not part of the meeting which approved the donation but raised concerns with the Council about links with Libya. [16] Howard Davies, the Director at the time, resigned over the scandal citing 'personal error of judgement' [17] Despite not being part of the meeting which approved the donation, Chakrabarti was publicly criticised by counter-extremism campaigners 'Student Rights' for 'hypocrisy' in not resigning.[18]. 'Student Rights' issued a call for all those involved in the affair to resign[19], as document by the London Evening Standard. Raheem Kassam, director of the organisation is quoted as having said, ""Other members of the council should resign as well. They all had to approve these decisions. We have requested minutes from the meetings where these decisions were made. Were these decisions railroaded through? We are asking members of the council to come forward, there is no point in hanging on."
In July 2011, Chakrabarti was announced as one of the panel members of the Leveson Inquiry; a judicial inquiry into phone hacking in the UK. Other panel members include veteran journalist George Jones; former Channel 4 News political editor Elinor Goodman; former Financial Times chairman Sir David Bell; former Ofcom chairman Lord Currie and former West Midlands Police chief constable Sir Paul Scott-Lee QPM. The Inquiry is being led by Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Leveson and is expected to report within 12 months. Chakrabarti described her invitation onto the Inquiry as 'a daunting privilege' and said it reflected Liberty's 'belief in an appropriate balance between personal privacy and media freedom and above all in the Rule of law'. Contrary to some incorrect media reports, Chakrabarti remains in Liberty's employment and neither she nor Liberty are taking any remuneration for her role on the panel.
Chakrabarti is married to Martyn Hopper and they have one son.[20] They live in Lambeth, South London.[21]
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. [22] In 2005, the British band The Dastards recorded a song in Chakrabarti's honour entitled "Shami Chakrabarti". [23] She was featured on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in December 2008 and has appeared on Have I Got News for You in April 2006 and May 2008. Chakrabarti received an honorary doctorate from the School of Law at University of Southampton in a graduation ceremony on 21 July 2010. [24] She also became an honorary graduate of Middlesex University on 18 July 2011,[25] and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex in July 2006.
| 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 |