Karl Sabbagh is a British writer, journalist, television producer, and convicted sex offender. His work is mainly non-fiction: he has written books about historical events and produced documentaries for both British and American broadcasters.

Biography

Karl Sabbagh was born in Evesham, Worcestershire, England in the March quarter of 1942. His father was the Palestinian Christian broadcaster Isa Sabbagh, at the time working for the BBC Arabic Service; his mother, born Pamela Graydon, was English, of American and Irish parentage. His parents divorced soon after he was born and his father later lived in the United States, but Karl (originally named Khalil after his grandfather) remained in England with his mother. He was the producer of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, ‘The natural history of a sunbeam’, by George Porter, in 1976 and ‘The planets’, by Carl Sagan, in 1977. Sabbagh's book Palestine (2006) interweaves a history of Palestine from the 18th century with an account of his paternal family, who were prominent Christian members of Palestinian society in Galilee throughout that period, settled in the town of Safad from at least the beginning of the 19th century. The book includes a critical account of the Zionist settlement and eventual takeover of Palestine in the first half of the 20th century.

Personal life

He is married to Sue Heber Percy and they have four children. In September 2019 Sabbagh was jailed for 45 months and put on the sex-offenders register for life after being convicted of grooming a 14-year-old girl.