Rabia Siddique

Siddique was born in Perth, Western Australia, to an Indian Muslim father and Australian mother. Her early childhood was spent in India and her family returned to Perth when she was five. She attended Manning Primary School and Penrhos College where she was school captain in her final year. Siddique graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Laws in 1995, and a Bachelor of Arts in 1997. As a university student, she volunteered for the Aboriginal Legal Services. Her early career included working in Singapore representing prisoners seeking clemency on death row. She returned to Perth to work for the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia before becoming a Federal Prosecutor with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. Moving to London in 1998, she worked in public liability, and as a criminal defence lawyer. == Military career ==

In September 2001 Siddique joined the British Army Legal Services. In April 2005, after being promoted to the rank of major, Siddique was deployed for a seven-month tour as the sole legal advisor to 12th Mechanised Brigade in Basra, Iraq. The al-Jameat hostage crisis On 19 September 2005, two British Special Forces soldiers were captured and illegally detained while investigating the infiltration of the police force by Shi'ite extremists. They were taken to the Jameat, or al-Jameat, a police compound in the Iraqi port city of Basra. Major James Woodham, head of the brigade’s surveillance unit, was sent to negotiate the soldiers’ release. When talks collapsed, the Iraqi representative, Judge Raghib, refused to deal with anyone except “Major Rabia”. Military career post al-Jameat and Basra Woodham was awarded a Military Cross for bravery in the al-Jameat incident. Siddique was not mentioned in official reports and she was not invited to take part in a Whitehall inquiry into the incident. Her image was used to promote diversity for the British Army. == Post-military career ==

For three years Siddique worked as a Crown Advocate in the Counterterrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service. Returning to Perth with her family in 2011, Siddique worked for a year as a senior legal officer in the West Australian Corruption and Crime Commission and for three years as Commissioner's Legal Counsel for the Western Australian Police. == Awards and achievements ==

In 2006 Siddique was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service for her human rights work in Iraq. In 2009 she was the Runner-up for Australian Woman of the Year UK. She is a Telstra Business Women's Award Finalist and in 2014 was named one of Westpac and the Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence. In 2015, an audience of 1700 people gave her a standing ovation for her TEDx talk Courage Under Fire, and in 2016 Siddique was a state finalist in the Australian of the Year Awards. Since 2014, Siddique has gained an international reputation as a motivational speaker, and is sometimes thought of as a leader and/or reformer. An active human rights advocate and philanthropist, Siddique is a patron and ambassador for several not-for-profit and charity organizations. In 2016 she was appointed as a Director of the International Foundation of Non-Violence. In 2017 she won the Professional Speakers Australia Breakthrough Speaker of the Year award. == Personal life ==

Rabia is a mother to triplet sons Aaron, Noah, and Oscar. == Major published work ==

In 2013 Siddique published her memoir, Equal Justice (Pan Macmillan, 2013). An Australian/UK feature film based on Siddique's memoir is in development. == References ==