Press Releases

November 27, 2015		Saudi Arabia: International organisations call for Ashraf Fayadh’s release More than 60 international organisations have joined a letter in support of poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh who has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for apostasy 27 November 2015 Your Excellency RE: Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh We, the undersigned organisations, all dedicated to the value of creative freedom, are writing to express our grave concern that Ashraf Fayadh has been sentenced to death for apostasy. Ashraf Fayadh, a poet, artist, curator, and member of British-Saudi art organisation Edge of Arabia, was first detained in August 2013 in relation to his collection of poems Instructions Within following the submission... Filed as: Press Releases
November 21, 2015		Join #ExMuslimBecause If you are an Ex-Muslim or thinking of leaving Islam, join our global solidarity campaign by sending your photo with #ExMuslimBecause telling us your reason for leaving Islam. You can also send us a 1 minute video and Tweets. Find us at: Twitter: www.twitter.com/CEMB_forum Tweets by MaryamNamazie Tweets by rayhana Facebook: www.facebook.com/exmuslims Website: https://ex-muslim.org.uk/ If you have safety concern and are unable to show your face and identity, please feel free to hide your face and use a pseudonym. We will additionally ”cartoonize” your photo with Photoshop effect to ensure you remain anonymous. Not an Ex-Muslim, but want to be... Filed as: Press Releases
November 5, 2015		Victory for free expression and end-year celebrations Hello friend I hope you are well. WARWICK UNIVERSITY AND TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN Our spokesperson Maryam Namazie finally spoke at Warwick University and Trinity College Dublin this month after her talk was barred by the Student Union at Warwick and cancelled by the student group at TCD due to “concerns.” You can read and watch her speech on “Apostasy, Blasphemy and Free Expression in the Age of ISIS” here. A huge thank you to all the wonderful people who protested the initial decisions and defended free expression. You can see some of the widespread support, including from the National Secular... Filed as: Press Releases
October 13, 2015		The Guardian: Through Islamist Eyes I emailed The Guardian on 2 October to ask for the right to reply to David Shariatmadari’s apologetics for Islamism. My article, Why I Speak against Islamism, was finally published on 13 October at 5pm after much delay and back and forth over “edits.” On 8 October, the Acting Editor for Comment is Free wrote to say a “very light edit” had been done on my article including “a few tweaks for flow, house style, and to make the piece as accessible as possible for non-expert readers.” Shockingly, the “light edits” included substantial changes, including the removal of references to Ali... Filed as: Press Releases
October 8, 2015		Counter-Dawah Project A new counter-dawah project is seeking individuals interested in working with it or supporting it. Dawah (calling to Islam) is a huge industry which sometimes uses misinformed or misleading arguments that largely go unchallenged. When the U.K.-based dawah charity iERA tried to argue for the Qur’anic revelation of embryology, it said that converts left Islam after examining the counter-arguments, and the claims proved “intellectually embarrassing” for iERA. This was due to the successful rebuttals of ex-Muslims, Muslims and atheists. Groups like iERA benefit from dawah by getting their followers to make donations to their missions, especially during the month of... Filed as: Press Releases
September 25, 2015		Important events and updates Hello I hope you are well. UPCOMING EVENTS We wanted to write and remind you about our upcoming events and speaking engagements. In the coming weeks, we will be speaking at Everybody Reading Festival in Leicester, Trinity College Dublin (after a previously scheduled talk was cancelled), the London Feminist Conference and at screenings of the film Among Unbelievers in the Netherlands. One Law for All and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain are organising several excellent events in central London: * 28 September 2015, evening drinks with Arif Rahman, Bangladeshi blogger on Islamist hit-lists * 26 October 2015, evening drinks with Tom... Filed as: Press Releases
September 7, 2015		The Netherlands: Asylum Founder of Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan (AAAP) affiliated to the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, has been forced to flee to the Netherlands after a Lahore court initiated criminal proceedings under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy law and issued an arrest warrant. Her ex-husband has custody of her 8 year old daughter because she had left Islam. Her colleague who is the current spokesperson for AAAP, is also in hiding in Pakistan. Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain urges the Dutch government to grant her protection. Her life and freedom are at risk if she were to be returned to Pakistan. Moreover,... Filed as: Press Releases
August 19, 2015		In defence of Bangladeshi Bloggers Here’s a joint letter in defence of Bangladeshi Bloggers signed by Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and affiliates. You can see updated signatories here. To Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President Abdul Hamid, We, concerned members of the blogging and activist community of Bangladesh and internationally, along with representatives of human rights organisations and other civil society organisations and supporters, wish to protest in the strongest possible terms the institutional attack on Bangladeshi citizens who profess humanist, atheist or secularist views. In the last two years, five bloggers (variously identifying as humanist, rationalist, atheist, and variously writing about science, humanist... Filed as: Press Releases
July 13, 2015		Yousef Muhammad Ali faces trial on 13 July for criticising Islam Yousef Muhammad Ali, born in 1987, faces trial on 13 July in Iraqi Kurdistan for criticising Islam. Please take urgent action right away and write to the Kurdish regional authorities to drop charges and to arrest those who have threatened him instead. BACKGROUND Yousef Muhammad Ali who spent many years studying Islam and Sharia law made a presentation in school on the Big Bang Theory. Islamists in his class instigated a fatwa against him. Also he faced threats when he criticised Islam on Facebook. Upon receiving a number of death threats, he contacted the police and filed a grievance against... Filed as: Press Releases
June 30, 2015		Support Bangladeshi Free-thinkers and Atheist Bloggers! We are freelance writers from Bangladesh. Most of us have started our writings through blogging in 2006 and 2007 when a Bengali blog, called, ‘somewhereinblog’, was first founded. Somewhereinblog has appeared as a wonderful opportunity to express and share our experiences, daily diaries, our happiness and sorrows in our own language/terms. Initially we have used the space to read blogs, while some of us were sharing personal diaries, literary works i.e. poetry, short stories, travel blogs etc. At some point we have noticed random posts on Islamic thoughts and inserts from Quran & Hadith, translated by apparently preaching articles from... Filed as: Press Releases