January 19, 2021
From the hijab to freedom, Rahila Gupta, New Humanist, 19 January 2021 A new documentary “Women Leaving Islam”, by the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, tells the story of six women escaping the violence of Islam’s modesty culture. On World Hijab Day, 1 February, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) will premiere Women Leaving Islam online, a documentary which explores the violence and repression that Islam’s modesty culture visits upon its women. Six women from the most diverse backgrounds, from different countries in the world and different wings of Islam but now settled in Europe and Australia, talk movingly of their journey...
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January 13, 2021
The International Coalition of Ex-Muslims has issued three statements on Zara Kay’s case, which can be found here. However, given the apparent need for additional clarification, please find the following for those with a genuine interest in the case: 1. On Zara’s initial Tweet that her police custody was related to blasphemy: On 28 December, a family member called Zara and told her to come into the Dar es-Salaam Oysterbay Police Station about her posts. After that call, Zara Tweeted that she was “going into the police station because someone reported me in for blasphemy.” Since she had recently posted the following ‘blasphemous’...
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January 6, 2021
Update Number 3: Tanzania – Drop All Charges against Zara Kay 6 January 2021 #JusticeForZaraKay #JusticeForZara #StandUpForZaraKay Zara Kay, an Australian citizen and founder of Faithless Hijabi, returned to Dar es-Salaam Oysterbay Police station on 5 January. Her lawyer confirmed that she was then transferred to the Immigration Department. According to local sources, she returned once more to the police station on 6 January and is awaiting a court hearing. From the original three charges against her: social media posts critical of the government (posted in May when Zara was in London, satirically addressing the handling of Covid-19 in Tanzania),...
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December 31, 2020
31 December 2020 #JusticeForZaraKay #JusticeForZara #StandUpForZaraKay Zara Kay, an Australian citizen and founder of Faithless Hijabi, was summoned to the Dar es-Salaam Oysterbay Police Station on 28 December 2020 and was held in police custody for 32 hours without an initial clear indication of charges. Zara is a well-known ex-Muslim and women’s rights activist. Faithless Hijabi, which she founded in 2018, supports women who have been ostracised or abused for leaving Islam. Whilst in police custody, Zara was asked about the work of her organisation and why she left Islam. Zara was bailed on 29 December 2020 and told to...
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December 30, 2020
URGENT ACTION: Tanzanian government must drop all the charges against Zara Kay immediately and unconditionally #JusticeForZara #ReleaseZara #FreeZaraKay The International Coalition of Ex-Muslims unequivocally condemns the arrest of Zara Kay, an Australian citizen and founder of Faithless Hijabi, a member of our Coalition. Zara was summoned to the Dar es-Salaam Oysterbay Police Station on 28 December 2020 and was held in police custody for 32 hours without a clear indication of charges. #ZaraKay’s arrest is politically motivated and the charges are now: 1) Social media post deemed to be critical of the president of Tanzania, John Magufuli (these light satirical...
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December 14, 2020
Iranian atheist activist Arsalan Rezaei was stabbed by two assailants at his home in Turkey where he had fled as a refugee. It was initially reported that he died in hospital the next day on 10 December, International Human Rights Day. We were later informed that he was alive but we made no mention of it until he reached safety. He has now given an account of his ordeal. Rezaei is a well-known admin of “Khorafatkadeh” (In Persian, “the home of superstitions”) on Instagram, Telegram and YouTube, which has anti-religion contents. He sent a message for last year’s International Atheist...
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December 9, 2020
On 10 December, International Human Rights Day, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) invites you to a sneak preview of its new documentary, “Women Leaving Islam,” 7.00-8.30pm GMT. 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...
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November 19, 2020
Ali Malik speaks to Maryam Namazie about the ex-Muslim movement, how it started, its aims and its impact on the human right to apostasy and blasphemy.
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November 19, 2020
Maryam Namazie, The Origins Podcast, 19 November 2020 Lawrence Krauss joins human rights activist Maryam Namazie at her office in London to discuss her work with The Council of Ex-Muslims, the rise of fascism in the west, blasphemy, “safe spaces”, Muslim profiling and much more.
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November 4, 2020
Maryam Namazie: Muslims are the primary victims of Islamism, sister-hood, 4 November 2020 The recent heinous attacks in France and Austria are just the latest additions to the countless Islamist terrorist attacks world-wide. Most take place in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia: the victims mainly Muslims – or those presumed to be Muslims due to the lottery of birth. Just this year, thousands have been killed or wounded in educational centres, farming villages, hotels, temples, mosques, government buildings, marketplaces, traffic roundabouts, on buses, in cars in Afghanistan, Chad, Iraq, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, Syria… In May...
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