Sarah Jane Booth was born and grew up in North London. Booth is a half-sister of Cherie Blair and the sixth daughter of actor Tony Booth. She trained as an actress at the London Academy of Performing Arts and then spent several years touring Europe with various regional theatre companies.
Media career
In 1997, she entered journalism. Her earliest writing experiences were with the London Evening Standard, writing the column ‘About Town’. In 1999, she began to write for the political magazine, the New Statesman, where she remained for four years. At the same time, she began writing columns and features for The Mail on Sunday as a columnist. Booth was a writer for the New Statesman. In 2006, she was a contestant on the ITVreality show, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Between 2006 and 2008 Booth presented In Focus on the UK's Islam Channel. She has had a long association with the Iranian owned Press TV, starting with Between The Headlines in 2008. Between 2010 and 2012 she presented Remember Palestine and Diaspora. In 2014, she presented her own series on the newly launched British Muslim TV, called Talking Booth. In 2014, she took a senior producer post at Al Jazeera in Doha, and was let go a few months later.
Activism
She was a vocal opponent of the Iraq War giving speeches at many rallies against the invasion. She is an outspoken activist and a supporter of the Stop the War Coalition. In August 2008 she traveled to Gaza by ship from Cyprus, along with 46 other activists, to highlight the blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver hearing aids and balloons to a school for the deaf in Gaza. She was subsequently refused entry into both Israel and Egypt. She claimed that by refusing her the right to leave Gaza and return to her home country, Israel was in breach of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically regarding freedom of movement. Booth stated that Gaza is "the largest concentration camp in the world today", although The Jerusalem Post suggested that several photographs of Booth in a well-stocked Gaza grocery "bel the grim picture she painted of the Strip". During her visit, she received a Palestinian VIP passport from Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. Booth left Gaza through the Rafah Border Crossing into Egypt on 20 September 2008. In 2009, she returned to Gaza with the aid convoy Viva Palestina, set up by the British politician George Galloway. Since 2012 she has returned on several occasions as the Chair of Trustees with the charity she co-founded, Peace Trail, delivering assistance to students and families in the region.
Conversion to Islam
In 2010, Booth converted to Islam a few years after her visit to Palestine, and became a practicing Muslim. Booth appeared at the Islam Channel's Global Peace and Unity event on 23 October 2010, wearing a hijab, stating: "My name is Lauren Booth, and I am a Muslim." She attributed her awakening to her experiences in Palestine as a reporter. In June 2011, Booth joined Cageprisoners as a patron. However, from 2015 Booth was no longer a patron of the organisation. Lauren Booth, another trustee of Peacetrail and the chief executive, her husband Sohale Ahmed, were disqualified from holding any trustee positions after the Charity Commission could not account for about half Peacetrail's income.
