Among her controversial opinions is that the Chechen terrorist leader and architect of the Beslan school massacre , Shamil Basayev , was a ' shaheed ' i.e. Islamic martyr . When the family of Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi denounced him , Ridley declared this " cowardly " and said she would " rather put up with a brother like Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi any day than have a traitor or a sell-out for a father , son or grandfather " . In both articles she renounced violence and said later that critics had chosen to " cherrypick out of context to make mischief "
Beslan school massacre
Beslan school siege
Yvonne Ridley