Media Coverage

September 11, 2007		European “ex-Muslims” demand right to leave Islam, Reuters European “ex-Muslims” demand right to leave Islam By Alexandra Hudson THE HAGUE (Reuters) – A Dutch-Iranian launched a campaign on Tuesday for Muslims to have the right to renounce their faith, a view which has triggered three physical attacks on the 22-year-old. Ehsan Jami’s group has stirred intense interest in the Netherlands, which has one million Muslims, and has reignited a highly emotive debate about Islam. “There are five sharia schools in Islam which say if you leave Islam you must be killed,” Jami, 22, told Reuters in an interview while bodyguards stood watch at the door. Apostasy is punishable... Filed as: Media Coverage
September 11, 2007		Muslims who renounce their faith band together in European countries, International Herald Tribune Muslims who renounce their faith band together in European countries The Associated Press Monday, September 10, 2007 AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Leaders of “ex-Muslim” groups from several European countries signed a declaration of “Principles of Tolerance” Tuesday, hoping to counter Islamic radicalism and support Muslims too afraid to openly renounce their religion. Groups of secular Muslims have sprung up in the past year in Germany, Britain and the Scandinavian countries; there are plans to launch a group in the United States as well. Tuesday marked the formal launch of the Dutch group. Though membership is limited to several hundred people, they hope... Filed as: Media Coverage
September 11, 2007		Group for ex-Muslims expands across Europe, USA Today By Toby Sterling, Associated Press AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Ehsan Jami knew he was making himself a target for radical Islamists when he decided to launch a Dutch organization for Muslims who renounce their religion. Five months and three physical assaults later, his “Committee for Ex-Muslims” is being launched Tuesday, joining similar groups that have sprung up around Europe. These groups hope to add a new voice to the debate about — and within — Europe’s Muslim communities, presenting themselves as diametrically different to the disenchanted and sometimes violent youth who grab headlines, or to immigrants who live cloistered among their... Filed as: Media Coverage
September 11, 2007		Europe: New Groups Unite Those Who Renounce Islam, Radio Free Europe September 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) — Some call them apostates, but they prefer the term ex-Muslims. Today marked the official launch of the Dutch Ex-Muslim Committee, the latest such group to emerge in Europe. The groups say they want to make it easier for people to renounce Islam — and draw attention to places where leaving the faith is punishable by death. The new group is headed by Ehsan Jami, a 22-year-old Dutch politician of Iranian origin. The group’s creation follows the launch this spring of a German council for former Muslims. Other groups soon followed suit in Scandinavia, and in... Filed as: Media Coverage
September 11, 2007		Muslims in Europe who renounce their faith band together, The Strait Times Muslims in Europe who renounce their faith band together AMSTERDAM – EHSAN Jami knew he was making himself a target for radical Islamists when he decided to launch a Dutch organisation for Muslims who renounce their religion. Five months and three physical assaults later, his ‘Committee for Ex-Muslims’ is being launched on Tuesday, joining similar groups that have sprung up around Europe. These groups hope to add a new voice to the debate about – and within – Europe’s Muslim communities, presenting themselves as diametrically different to the disenchanted and sometimes violent youth who grab headlines, or to immigrants who... Filed as: Media Coverage
September 11, 2007		Dutch politician sets up Committee for ex-Muslims, Radio Netherlands Dutch politician sets up Committee for ex-Muslims by our correspondent in The Hague John Tyler 11-09-2007 Young Dutch Labour politician Ehsan Jami has established a Committee of ex-Muslims in the Netherlands to support those who have renounced Islam. 22-year-old Jami (photo) held a press conference on Tuesday – the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York – to announce the birth of the committee. There’s been an intense amount of interest in Mr Jami and his efforts, much of it critical. Ehsan Jami is proving to be a controversial spokesman, partly because of his... Filed as: Media Coverage
September 11, 2007		Dutch politician launches committee for ex-Muslims, AFP Filed as: Media Coverage
September 6, 2007		Interviews with Maryam Namazie in following Icelandic newspapers and radio: Blaðið „Það er greinilegt að hér hefur lítið verið rætt um íslam. Úr því þarf að bæta. Íslendingar sem og aðrir eiga ekki á láta fæla sig frá heilbrigðri gagnrýni af ótta við að vera úthrópaðir rasistar og árásarmenn á múslíma,” segir Maryam Namazie, stofnandi samtaka fyrrverandi múslíma í Bretlandi. Maryam hefur síðustu daga haldið fyrirlestra um pólitískt íslam hér á landi og hvatt til þess að Íslendingar læri af reynslu annarra þjóða. Salmann Tamimi, formaður Félags múslíma á Íslandi, greindi frá því í gær að honum þætti ummæli hennar árás á alla múslíma. Maryam segist vön slíkum ásökunum. „Slíkar fullyrðingar... Filed as: Media Coverage
September 3, 2007		Overplaying the race card, American Spectator Overplaying the Race Card By Christopher Orlet Published 9/4/2007 12:07:10 AM Best to get this out of the way from the start: Islam is a religion and a religious ideology, not a race, therefore the recurrent charge that Islam’s critics are racist is nothing more than a thin smokescreen. Yet this truism is repeatedly rejected by Muslim spokesmen. Visit the Islamophobia Watch website and you will find among the many attempts at a definition (e.g. “the fear or hatred of Islam”) this qualification: [T]he term “Islamophobia” does not adequately express the full range and depth of antipathy towards Islam and... Filed as: Media Coverage
August 24, 2007		Maryam Namazie on Islamophobia in the Guardian Channel 4 rejects ‘Islamophobia’ claims Mark Sweney, MediaGuardian Friday August 24 2007 This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Friday August 24 2007. It was last updated at 11:20 on January 08 2008. The Channel 4 deputy head of news and current affairs, Kevin Sutcliffe, today dismissed accusations of Islamophobia in the broadcaster’s programming, stating that it would remain “fearless” in its coverage. Mr Sutcliffe, one of five panelists involved at a sometimes heated session at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh international television festival about the portrayal of Islam in the media, said critics would be “hard pressed to point to... Filed as: Media Coverage