Press Releases

February 27, 2017		Aftab Ahmed must be granted protection in Britain Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) is concerned to learn that one of its members and activists, Aftab Ahmed (DOB: 20-10-1986; Home Office Reference: A1879243; Tribunal reference: PA/00448/2016), has been refused asylum and protection. As a CEMB activist, Ahmed has been involved in numerous public actions, conferences and events, including a fast-defying protest during Ramadan in solidarity with those persecuted for breaking fasting rules at the Pakistani embassy – where the Friday prayers leader said he would “not waste his breath on [us] if he knew we were apostates” and an #ExMuslimBecause “flash-dance” at Kings Cross. Having opening renounced and... Filed as: Press Releases
February 23, 2017		More restrictions at UK universities The below is a post by Spokesperson Maryam Namazie on restrictions faced when speaking at universities. According to a recent report, more than nine in 10 UK universities are restrictive of free speech. This doesn’t surprise me at all. I continue to face restrictions of varying degrees, though this is changing due to the widespread push-back in defence of free expression. Nowadays, I find that universities don’t bar me outright as Warwick University initially did nor do Islamic Societies (ISocs) organise to cancel and threaten my talk as at Goldsmiths. Their efforts are often more covert though no less sinister.... Filed as: Press Releases
December 13, 2016		Devastating New Evidence on Sharia Courts Supplementary written evidence submitted by One Law for All RE: New Submission by Maryam Namazie to Home Affairs Select Committee Inquiry into Sharia Councils See Submission on Home Affairs Select Committee Website I am writing to raise serious concerns over the Home Affairs Select Committee hearing on 1 November 2016 at which I gave oral testimony and to provide further and new evidence on the matter at hand, particularly with regards the transnational Islamist links with Sharia courts as well as the discriminatory content and intent of the courts, which violate the UK’s gender equality obligations and commitments to freedom... Filed as: Press Releases
December 2, 2016		Discrimination and violence lie at the heart of Sharia courts The below was published in The Freethinker. I gave oral evidence at the Home Affairs Select Committee evidence session on Sharia Councils on November 1 on why Sharia courts in Britain are an Islamist project to control women, are discriminatory and should be dismantled. (This was preceded by a written statement.) When questioned by MP Naz Shah, above, though, one would have thought it was I and not Sharia courts that were under investigation. She said: But Ms Namazie, according to your blog, which I read earlier, this isn’t just about Sharia courts. If we were to look at implementing... Filed as: Press Releases, Resources
November 13, 2016		Defend freedom of conscience and expression Dear friend We are writing to give you a brief update on our work. Islam’s Non Believers If you haven’t already seen it, watch Islam’s Non Believers, a new documentary by award-winning filmmaker Deeyah Khan. It’s a stunning in-depth look into the CEMB and the situation of ex-Muslims in Britain and internationally. See some media coverage around the film, including “Blaming the Victim” and on how long-term shunning of ex-Muslims – promoted by Muslim Association of Britain President Omer El Hamdoon in the film – amounts to psychological torture. In light of increasing attacks on CEMB after the film’s broadcast, we... Filed as: Press Releases
November 13, 2016		The Charity Commission should revoke iERA’s charitable status The Charity Commission has spent three years investigating the Islamic Education and Research Academy, including its financial mismanagement and extremist speakers and partnerships, which were highlighted in the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s report “Evangelising Hate“. The recently published Charity Commission inquiry report confirms CEMB’s report by finding that the iERA has indeed been promoting extremist views, including during the period it was under investigation. Despite this, the Charity Commission has proposed procedural changes and the managing of risk pertaining to “guest speakers” who have all somehow seemingly incited hatred mainly within their “personal capacities”. The Charity Commission has ignored... Filed as: Press Releases
November 11, 2016		The Practice of Shunning and its Consequences, Sedaa, 11 November 2016 The Practice of Shunning and its Consequences, Sedaa, 11 November 2016 Filed as: Media Coverage, Press Releases
November 10, 2016		In defence of Islam’s Non Believers We, the undersigned, are appalled at the discrimination, abuse and violence faced by ex-Muslims both in Britain and internationally (as seen in a new film, Islam’s Non-Believers). Needless to say, it is not an insult to Islam or any religion, if one becomes an atheist – either in public or private. It is exercising a fundamental right to freedom of conscience. Moreover, criticism of religion, including Islam, is not “Islamophobia” but exercising a fundamental right to freedom of expression. Those who “punish” or forcibly prevent freedom of conscience and expression are the ones who commit a crime – not those... Filed as: Press Releases
November 3, 2016		Spokesperson Maryam Namazie wins 2016 International Secularism (Laicite) Prize Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain is pleased to announce that its spokesperson Maryam Namazie was awarded the 2016 International Secularism (Laicite) Prize from the Comité Laïcité République in Paris on 2 November. You can read and see Maryam’s acceptance speech below. The French translation, thanks to Marieme Helie Lucas is available here. سخنرانى به زبان فارسى در پايىن صفحه Thank you for this wonderful honour. I am so glad to have the support of so many present here, including my husband and son, as well as my Muslim parents. We live in an age where totalitarianism is masked as divine righteousness,... Filed as: Press Releases
October 20, 2016		Blaming the Victims: Islam’s Non Believers By Marieme Helie Lucas (Algerian sociologist) Reposted from SIAWI Also available in French. For the past three decades, we have been witnessing the implementation in politics of the concept of perversity in psychology. Case study, truly. I first realized that during the ‘dark decade’ in Algeria, which made about 200,000 victims, most of them at the hands of armed fundamentalist groups – with women constituting a large proportion of the victims. Following an inexorable process, these are the steps being taken by fundamentalists: targeted assassinations at the beginning of the 9Os of individuals branded miscreants ( kofr), who were just... Filed as: Press Releases