Farah Damji (born 9 October 1966), also known as Farah Dan, convicted criminal with multiple convictions pertaining to fraud and stalking in the United States, South Africa, and United Kingdom. In 2016, Damji was described by The Sunday Times as "a notorious conwoman," On 11 July 2025, Damji was convicted and sentenced to six years on the charges of stalking, theft and fraud against a former British diplomat.

Early life

Damji was born in Uganda in 1966 to a multi-millionaire property developer Amir Damji She is the niece of journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (Amir's sister); who refers to her niece's childhood in her autobiography No Place Like Home. Damji has a borderline personality disorder and suffered addictions to cocaine and alcohol. She is married and has two children. an article in New Statesman, and an article in The Observer. In 2006 The Independent recalled her magazines as being "smart, readable and award-winning". While the trial was adjourned, Damji stole more credit cards and committed further crimes. She was re-arrested by police five days later, on 27 July.

While Damji was in prison she began writing her autobiography; she finished the writing shortly after her release. In the book, Damji claims to have been rehabilitated and put her criminal past behind her.

Weeks after she was released from prison, Damji began committing further frauds. On 29 January 2010, Damji was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

In March 2011 Damji founded the company Kazuri Properties. The company claimed to have established a "heroes center" to help former soldiers and servicemen who ended up in prison. Damji's company was dissolved in April 2015.

On 19 August 2016 Damji was imprisoned for five years, after being found guilty of three counts of stalking. She had been originally charged with one count of stalking, on 9 January 2014. She was released on bail shortly thereafter. While out on bail, she committed two other counts of stalking: one with the same man as for the first count, and one with a different man. Dalrymple notified the British police, but no criminal charges could be made because the alleged stalking occurred when Damji followed Dalrymple to India, and so was outside British jurisdiction. During the late 1990s, when Damji lived in the U.S., she allegedly "terrorized several ex-lovers with a Fatal Attraction-like intensity". On 4 July 2018, Damji appealed the ICO decision to the First-tier Tribunal; on 27 November 2018, the Tribunal dismissed her appeal.

In October 2018 Damji appeared in court accused of breaching a restraining order. On 20 February 2020 she was convicted in absentia of two counts of breaching a restraining order and was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment the following month. During her trial Damji absconded to Ireland, and in February 2020 she was convicted in absentia of two counts of breaching a restraining order, and sentenced to 27 months imprisonment. Damji was arrested in Dublin in August 2020 and faced proceedings to extradite her to the UK to serve her sentence. While in Ireland, she appealed against her UK conviction; she was unsuccessful in getting the conviction overturned but the sentence was reduced from 27 months to 18 months by the Court of Appeal on 18 December 2020. Damji also launched legal proceedings against the National Health Service, arguing that they had failed adequate mental health services to her during her previous periods of imprisonment. The High Court (Ireland) ordered her extradition back to the UK in January 2022. Damji launched several appeals against her extradition to the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, which both upheld the extradition. On 7 May 2025 Damji was convicted of stalking, theft and two counts of fraud by false representation. Covering all of those offences she was sentenced to six years in custody on 11 July 2025. In September 2025, she was transferred to HM Prison Eastwood Park to serve out her sentence.

References

  • Trial of Damji in the High Court of South Africa  —Southern African Legal Information Institute
  • "Farah Damji - South Africa "  —Damji's affiliation with OffshoreTradingCo
  •  —magazine website
  • Another Generation Issue #9  —the last issue of the magazine
  •  —website for Damji's book
  • R v Farah Damji [2011] EWCA Crim 2025  —Court of Appeal Judgment
  • "Farah Dan - Personal Appointments"  —Kazuri Group directorships (Companies House)
  • "Farah Dan - Personal Appointments"  —Desistance Limited directorship (Companies House)
  • Causelist  —Court hearings for stalking charges
  • County Court at Central London  —Farah Dan versus Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (2017-05-22)