May 28, 2024
The Sikh Court: Parallel Justice Systems are a Danger to Women We are alarmed by the establishment of a Sikh Court in the UK. Spokespeople for The Sikh Court describe it as an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism operating within the provisions of the Arbitration Act 1996. They expect it to deal primarily with family matters and gurdwara conflicts. They have alluded to three key objectives – to keep Sikh marriages and families intact and reduce divorce rates to cut legal costs by charging a minimal amount and ensuring speedy conflict resolution to help Sikhs avoid delays within the secular...
Filed as: Press Releases

May 8, 2024
Join the largest gathering of ex-Muslims worldwide in Oslo during 31 August – 1 September 2024. More than 50 freethinkers from Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, France, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, Tunisia, UK, Ukraine, USA and the Diaspora will gather to celebrate blasphemy, apostasy and freedom of expression through discussions, poetry, film, protest art, and music and pay tribute to taboo-breaking ex-Muslim comedian Shabana Rehman. The two day conference organised by the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and Dømmekraft is a continuation of...
Filed as: Press Releases

April 22, 2024
With the official start of the new year (Nowroz) in Iran, the Iran Human Rights Organization has released a report on the executions carried out by the Islamic Republic. According to the report, the rate of executions in the past year has increased by 43%. Among these executed individuals, two people have been executed for the first time in the past 9 years on charges of insulting Islamic sanctities. Yousef Mehrad and Sadrallah Fazeli Zarei had a channel on the social media platform Telegram called “Critique of Superstition and Religion” and were detained for this reason. Yousef Mehrad, a father...
Filed as: Media Coverage, Press Releases

April 14, 2024
We were experiencing technical difficulties due to a change of servers. Everything is back up and working now But If you have gotten in touch with us in the last 2-3 weeks through any of our emails including our spokespersons’, please get back in touch as we/they might not have received it at all. You can also reach us through our social media https://www.facebook.com/exmuslims/ https://twitter.com/CEMB_forum https://twitter.com/MaryamNamazie https://twitter.com/apostateali As well as our emails at: info@ex-muslim.org.uk hello@ex-muslim.org.uk ali.malik@ex-muslim.org.uk info@maryamnamazie.com maryamnamazie@gmail.com
Filed as: Press Releases

April 9, 2024
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All stand in unequivocal solidarity with Southall Black Sisters and its Director Selma Taha who was the victim of racist abuse and violence whilst on the tube with friends in September last year. A complaint was made against an off-duty police officer who failed to intervene at the time. We are outraged to learn that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is not taking real action against the racist perpetrator other than a caution and instead is targeting Selma and her friends who have spoken out against racist violence and abuse in...
Filed as: Press Releases

March 19, 2024
CEMB organised fast-defying protests by staging picnics outside the embassies of countries that prosecute people for eating outdoors during the fasting hours of Ramadan. Fast-defying picnics were first started by feminist activist Ibtaissame Betty Lachgar and her organisation MALI in Muhammadiya Morocco in 2009. They were met with severe backlash, greeted by at least 100 police officers, media people, and a mob of Islamists ended up threatened and then dispersed by the police, sighting their safety. Betty was visiting London, and as it happened to be in Ramadan, we at CEMB thought it was a good idea to do the...
Filed as: Featured, Homepage, Press Releases

February 1, 2024
Today is #WorldHijabDay #veiledinstrength #unveiledinstrength #no2hijabday See World Hijab Day, uno strumento di repressione può diventare simbolo di orgoglio? Sky Italy, 1 February 2024 Fighting religious intolerance is important, as is fighting intolerance against those who have no religion and are being killed for apostasy and blasphemy in countries under Islamic rule. But you cannot fight religious intolerance by normalising misogyny. This year’s World Hijab Day’s theme is Veiling is Strength but it doesn’t take strength to do as you are told. The veiling of women is a religious imposition, often via force and compulsion. How can it be a...
Filed as: Featured, Homepage, Media Coverage, Press Releases

December 12, 2023
FRENCH BELOW For the first time in France, an international conference brought together defenders of Laicity from around the world on December 8 and 9, 2023 at Paris City Hall. The conference was co-organised by the Association Laïques Sans Frontières (LSF) and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), in collaboration with the Comité Laïcité République (CLR) and the EGALE Association (Equality Secularism Europe) and in partnership with Charlie Hebdo, Marianne magazine, Freedom From Religion Foundation (USA), National Secular Society (UK) and Center for Inquiry (USA). The event brought together more than 40 Laic personalities, coming from the four corners...
Filed as: Featured, Homepage, Press Releases

December 11, 2023
Laïques sans frontières : pour une loi de 1905 universelle, Charlie Hebdo, 11 December 2023 Laïques sans frontières : pour une loi de 1905 universelle Laure Daussy · Mis en ligne le 11 décembre 2023 C’est un rassemblement qui fera date. Vendredi et samedi dernier, pour la première fois en France, des militants laïques du monde entier, athées et libre penseurs, se sont réunis avec un mot d’ordre : appeler à mettre en place la laïcité dans tous les pays du monde. Nous publions en exclusivité leur appel. « Il faudrait inscrire la laïcité au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco ! » Rarement la laïcité aura été autant...
Filed as: Homepage, Media Coverage, Press Releases

December 4, 2023
2010s was an important decade in defining Europe’s commitment to free speech, it saw many countries repealing their largely unused blasphemy laws. Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, Ireland, and in 2017 Denmark. But Denmark is now taking a step back and reintroducing a Blasphemy Law. The proposed Danish Bill L65 seeks to punish “improper treatment of religious objects held sacred by religious communities” with 2 years imprisonment. The bill, which aligns with OIC’s (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) demands for an international Blasphemy Law, will be voted on the 7th of December and is largely tipped to be passed. If this bill...
Filed as: Europe, Press Releases