Brittain was born in India and was three or four years old when she went to Britain – as she said in a 2018 interview: "My father was part of the so-called
British Empire and he was like a leftover from that period." Brittain has lived and worked in
Saigon,
Algiers,
Nairobi, London and
Washington, DC, and has reported from more than two dozen African countries, as well as the Middle East (particularly Palestine and
Lebanon) and
Cuba. She worked for
The Guardian for more than two decades and has written for many other outlets and publications, including
Afrique/Asie,
Le Monde Diplomatique,
The Nation, and
Race and Class. Her work has focused on human rights and she has written widely and given lectures related to
Guantanamo Bay prison. Her activist writings and work encompass plays –
Guantanamo (
Tricycle Theatre, 2004), with
Gillian Slovo, and
The Meaning of Waiting (
Purcell Room,
Southbank Centre, 2010) – and broadcasts on various media outlets. Books that she has written or edited include
Moazzam Begg's co-authored work
Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar (2006). Brittain is a trustee of Prisoners of Conscience and of the Ariel and Melbourne Trust. She was a founder member of the annual
Palestine Festival of Literature in 2008, As of 2020, Brittain was chair of
Declassified UK, an investigative journalism organisation with a focus on UK foreign, military and intelligence policies. ==Personal life==