February 1, 2020
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) took direct action against the veil and compulsory veiling in London on 1 February to challenge World Hijab Day.   Even on streets of London, a man told the women they were “embarrassing themselves”. (Video by Reason4Freedom)   CEMB is pleased to see the extensive push back in 2020 against this day that celebrates religious tools to restrict women and their sexuality.   In February 2013, when the day was first initiated, Maryam Namazie compared World Hijab Day with World Female Genital Mutilation Day or World Child Marriage Day. She was quoted in a...
Filed as: Press Releases

January 18, 2020
A new film by CEMB – Women Leaving Islam – will premiere on 1 February 2021, World Hijab Day. In this powerful film, six ex-Muslim women activists share their moving stories of growing up in Muslim families and Muslim-majority countries and the violence, loss and shunning they faced because of their scepticism and apostasy. The women talk about everything from tearing their hijab on door handles as a child, wearing a burkini on a beach in Italy, wanting to scream their atheism in Mecca during Hajj, losing custody of a child after a husband’s accusations of blasphemy, reporting a violent...
Filed as: Press Releases

January 16, 2020
The below was first published on Centre for Women’s Justice website written by Maryam Namazie, joint prize winner of the Emma Humphrey’s Memorial Prize 2019. I started Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All more than a decade ago to publicly mobilise dissent against religious laws. An expression of “not in my name” and a challenge to the Quran, Islam and Islamism as the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of the emancipation of women, freethinkers and others (if I may “paraphrase” US Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton)*. Having fled the Islamic regime in Iran – where there...
Filed as: Press Releases

December 13, 2019
Muriel Seltman (27 March 1927 – 2 December 2019) was a mathematician, a writer, an activist and comrade in arms. She joined campaigns in support of One Law for All against Sharia and religious laws and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain against blasphemy and apostasy laws and for secularism, reason and universal rights over a decade ago. She edited “Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights,” attended events, leafleted in solidarity with the protesting people of Iran and against Sharia law, did interviews, including with Bread and Roses TV on anti-Semitism and spoke...
Filed as: Press Releases

December 12, 2019
By Hassan Radwan I’m frequently approached online by those who have lost their faith and a question that almost always crops up in various forms is: How do you cope without religion? For those of us for whom religion gave them their meaning, comfort & guide in life’s ups and downs, loss of faith is a deeply distressing & terrifying feeling. So I want to share some thoughts that might help. Don’t panic. It’s OK to not have the answers to everything. Don’t feel you need to rush to fill the space religion had in your life. Take your time...
Filed as: Press Releases, Resources

December 11, 2019
Dear friend It has been heart-warming to know we have been able to help so many as a result of your support. * Assistance to 600 ex-Muslims a month * Monthly support groups in London and Birmingham * Monthly socials for isolated members * Monthly meet ups, including on empowerment through art, female genital mutilation and male circumcision, leaving faith behind, shunning, mental health and apostasy and religion, misogyny and atheism… Ana Gonzales, a Partner at Wilsons LLP, conducts regular workshops on asylum rights and apostasy for asylum seeking ex-Muslims. All free of charge. Ex-Muslim after ex-Muslim has said: “I...
Filed as: Press Releases

December 10, 2019
#HumanRightsDay #StandUp4HumanRights #Apostate #ExMuslim #Human #ApostasyAHumanRight Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) #روز_جهانی_حقوق_بشر #مرتد #انسان #ارتداد_حقوق_انسانی_است
Filed as: Press Releases

November 27, 2019
The hijab: “preventing common impositions” was published in Workers Liberty Solidarity in defence of banning child veiling on 27 November 2019. Maryam Namazie is an activist with the Council of Ex-Muslims and other secularist groups. On the issue of child veiling, a state ban on conspicuous religious symbols for children is an important defence of children’s rights. Children are not parental property Children are not the property of their parents. They are individuals with rights and bodily integrity. And just because their parents believe in child veiling or FGM and male circumcision doesn’t mean they should be automatically entitled to...
Filed as: Press Releases, Resources

November 22, 2019
Farsi, Arabic and French translations below. Nationwide protests in Iran against a 50% fuel price hike over the last few days has seen widespread suppression by the Islamic regime of Iran’s security forces leaving at least 200 dead, hundreds injured and over a thousand arrested. The use of overwhelming force by security forces has been coupled with an Internet black out to prevent news of the uprising and its suppression from reaching the outside world. The protesters are targeting Islamic rule and the clerical dictatorship, including by attacking religious institutions and seminaries, banks, police stations and representations of the clerical...
Filed as: Press Releases

November 19, 2019
Ahmad Harken is an Egyptian 36-year-old Ex-Muslim/atheist, youtuber and free thinker who practices his right of expression. Since 2016 the Egyptian National Security has imposed a travel ban on Harken for no reason. Harkan has not violated any law of the state nor caused harm to any individual. There is no court order against him nor any order from the Attorney general. Although he is free to roam the country, he is imprisoned within the compounds of his country for no apparent reason. Harkan attempted to travel outside Egypt and was banned three times since 2016. The last time Ahmed...
Filed as: Press Releases