I am an ex-Muslim, but now an atheist, have spent nine years as a prisoner of the Islamic Republic of Iran, for the `crime` of having beliefs and opinions that were contrary to the anachronistic and fundamentalist religious dogma that is inflicted on the people of Iran by the oppressive and autocratic religious government. Only an atheist prisoner of an Islamic regime can fully comprehend the variety of torture methods inspired and authorised by the Quran to punish `unbelievers`. I am glad that I now have the freedom to express my views, without the fear of arrest and torture, after so many years of having to remain silent.