Shami Chakrabarti

Shami Chakrabarti CBE (born in London, June 16 1969), has been the director of Liberty, a British pressure group, since September 2003. Chakrabarti is the Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University. [cite news|url=http://www.brookes.ac.uk/about/news/newchancellor|title=Director of Liberty appointed University Chancellor|publisher=Oxford Brookes University|date=2008-06-16]

Early life

After graduating from the London School of Economics gaining a degree in law, Chakrabarti worked as a barrister at the Home Office from 1996 after qualifying as a barrister in 1994, before joining Liberty on 10 September 2001. She is an alumna of the British-American Project, which promotes Anglo-American relations. [cite news
url=http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yasmin-alibhai-brown/yasmin-alibhaibrown-this-unhealthy-strain-of-leftwing-mccarthyism-796804.html
title=This unhealthy strain of left-wing McCarthyism
author=Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
date=March 17th, 2008
publisher=The Independent]

Liberty

She spent the following two years campaigning against the 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. 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. Listeners were then invited to vote for their choice, choosing President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso in a poll which the Eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) later admitted to rigging. [ cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1678062,00.html |title=Eurosceptic party admits rigging BBC poll]

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. [http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/P/politicalawards/index.html]

She is Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, a Governor of the London School of Economics and the British Film Institute, and a Visiting Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford and a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple. She is also a governor of the Ditchley Foundation. [cite web
url=http://www.ditchley.co.uk/page/64/the-governors.htm
title=The Governors
publisher=The Ditchley Foundation] She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours.LondonGazette|issue=58358|supp=yes|notarchive=yes|startpage=7|date=16 June 2007|accessdate=2008-01-09]

Andy Burnham controversy

In June 2008, Andrew Burnham, British Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, expressed surprise in an interview in "Progress" magazine at Shadow Home Secretary David Davis' resignation over the 42-day detention for terror suspects. Davis, known to be a right-winger, was said by Burnham to have had "late-night, hand-wringing, heart-melting phone calls with Shami Chakrabarti." A very offended Chakrabarti demanded a written apology of Burnham for his "innuendo and attempted character assassination". [Patrick Wintour, political editor, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/20/2 "Chakrabarti threatens to sue over Minister's jibe"] , The Guardian, June 20, 2008] [James Chapman, [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1027708/I-sue-David-Davis-slur-civil-rights-chief-warns-Minister.html "I may sue over David Davis slur, civil rights chief warns Minister"] , Daily Mail, 19 June 2008]

Personal life

Chakrabarti lives with her husband, Martyn John Hopper, a partner at City legal firm Herbert Smith, in London. They have one son. They married in July 1995 in the City of London.

Popular culture

* In 2005, the British band The Dastards wrote a song in Chakrabarti's honour entitled "Shami Chakrabarti". [http://www.dastards.com/dastards_lyrics_shami.html]

* The first storyline of Series 5 of the BBC drama Spooks, originally broadcast in 2006, featured a minority ethnic civil rights activist (who is incarcerated in the course of a conspiracy to replace parliamentary democracy with authoritarian rule) who appears to be a thinly-disguised fictionalised version of Chakrabarti.

References

External links

* [http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/about/2-people/21-staff/index.shtml Liberty]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/03/24/smworld24.xml "Telegraph" March 2007]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article411001.ece "Times" January 2005]