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Showing posts with label Blasphemy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blasphemy. Show all posts
Maryam Namazie ✊Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, a Moroccan secularist, feminist, ex-Muslim and LGBT rights campaigner was arrested on 10 August 2025 in Rabat, Morocco for her photo on social media wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Allah is Lesbian.”


 Betty has worn the same T-shirt for many years now. The arrest follows a pile-on of threats of rape, death, lynching and stoning orchestrated by the religious-Right.

On the day of her trial in Rabat on 27 August, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. Ex-Muslims International and Faithless Hijabi have organised a protest at the Moroccan Embassy in London demanding #FreeBetty.

Date: Wednesday 27 August 2025

Time: 3–4 PM

Location: Moroccan Embassy, 49 Queen’s Gate Gardens, London SW7 5NE

On 12 August, Betty was presented to the prosecutor and remanded in pre-trial detention. A first hearing on 13 August was postponed to 27 August; the request for provisional release was denied. Betty has been held in pre-trial detention, facing up to 5 years in prison for a T-shirt. As a cancer survivor with a prosthetic arm requiring surgery, there are added risks to her life and well-being if she is not immediately released.

Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain Spokesperson Maryam Namazie says:

It is always the non-violent expression of freethinkers that is branded ‘offensive’ and criminal. Yet the religious offend women, LGBT, ex-Muslims and non-believers every single day. That offence never counts, because religion is privileged, and because the ‘hurt feelings’ of the pious often come with threats of violence and murder. That is exactly why Betty sits in prison for a T-shirt, facing five years, while those issuing death, rape and lynching threats — even while tagging the security services — remain free to incite hatred. To those cowards who state that Betty has a right to speak but must not ‘offend’, I have a question: what is so scandalous about calling ‘Allah a Lesbian?’ Popular songs proclaim ‘God is a woman.’ Outrage only follows if you think being a lesbian is shameful. And that is precisely Betty’s point.

Veiled Rose, speaking on behalf of Faithless Hijabi says:

To prosecute a woman for peacefully expressing her views is a blatant violation of freedom of conscience and freedom of expression. Betty’s lifelong commitment to women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and human rights has harmed no one—yet she faces punishment simply for speaking her mind. Silencing voices like hers does not protect faith, it only exposes the fragility of dogma. We call on the Moroccan authorities to drop all charges immediately and uphold the universal rights to free belief, dissent, and equality.

Haram Doodles, speaking on behalf of Ex-Muslims International says:

Betty’s care, advocacy and impact can be seen through her global collaboration and Moroccan movement for human rights, freedoms and secularism. It’s 2025. How is the world still allowing oppressive blasphemy and apostasy laws to protect religion and the religious in power instead of humans?

#FreeBetty #EndBlasphemyLaws #EndApostophobia

For more information, contact:

Maryam Namazie, exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com

https://ex-muslim.org.uk/

https://ex-muslims.international/

https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/


Maryam Namazie is a political activist, campaigner and blogger

Free Ibtissame Betty Lachgar Protest

Maryam Namazie ✊Ex-Muslims International, of which Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain is a founding member, is launching a global campaign ahead of Apostasy Day (August 22) to #FreeBetty for Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, a feminist, atheist, psychologist, and long-time human rights activist who has been arrested for “blasphemy” by Moroccan authorities. 

She faces trial on August 27 for sharing a photo on X of herself in a T-shirt that read: “Allah is lesbian.”

For this, she now sits in a prison cell—while thousands who issued death and rape threats against her online remain free. The decision to keep her in prison is particularly cruel given her fragile health. As a cancer survivor, she requires consistent medical attention that cannot be guaranteed in detention, placing her life in further jeopardy.

Betty is being prosecuted for “insulting Islam”, a blasphemy charge rooted in Morocco’s oppressive religious laws that carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. Meanwhile in Morocco, homosexuality is illegal under Article 489 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes “lewd or unnatural acts” between individuals of the same sex.

Betty’s arrest is a grotesque violation of human rights and a chilling reminder of how apostates, atheists, feminists, and queer dissidents continue to be persecuted under the guise of “protecting religion.” That’s why on Apostasy Day this year, we are demanding Betty’s freedom and calling for an end to the systemic criminalization, silencing, and violence against people who question, challenge and leave religion. This is not just about a social media post or t-shirt—it’s apostophobia in action and yet another religiously-motivated attack on our collective rights to freely think, speak and express ourselves.
 
#FreeBetty: Take Action on Apostasy Day and beyond

We are calling on all freedom defenders, organizers, content creators, and allies around the world to join Ex-Muslims on Apostasy Day and beyond to:
 
  • Demand the immediate release of Betty in Morocco by urgently contacting lawmakers, leaders and changemakers
  • Put international pressure on Morocco and theocratic governments everywhere to uphold human rights, not religious dogma
  • Commit to secularism and push for an end to all apostasy and blasphemy laws everywhere
  • Share art, music, posters and creative content on social media in support of apostasy, blasphemy and freedom for Betty
  • Post a video with your message of solidarity with Betty, her incredible work with MALI (Mouvement alternatif pour les libertés individuelles) which she co-founded, and the human rights and freedoms she stands for
  • Coordinate and join protests at Moroccan embassies on August 27
  • Use relevant hashtags: #FreeBetty #ApostasyDay #EndApostophobia
  • Visit apostophobia.com and share widely

Betty is a trailblazing activist and co-founder of MALI (Mouvement alternatif pour les libertés individuelles). For years, she has fought on the frontlines for the rights of women, youth, LGBTQ+ people, and nonbelievers, and for the normalization of blasphemy and apostasy as forms of freedom—not crimes. Her arrest is a direct attack on those values—and on all of us.

Apostasy Day was started in 2020 by Ex-Muslims International Coalition organisations to defend the right to leave religion and coincides with the UN International Day Commemorating Victims of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. Betty is a survivor of state violence, religious repression, and institutional misogyny. We unequivocally stand with her and demand her immediate and unconditional freedom.
 
Contact & Info

Ex-Muslim International at contact@ex-muslims.international

Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain: exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com

Maryam Namazie is a political activist, campaigner and blogger

Free Betty Lachgar

National Secular Society ✏ The prosecution of a man for burning a Quran in protest signals "a concerning capitulation to Islamic blasphemy codes", free speech campaigners have warned.


Coskun was today found guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court of a religiously-aggravated public order offence, after he protested against Islamism outside the Turkish Consulate in February.

Coskun set fire to a Quran as part of the protest, which led to a man attacking him.

The National Secular Society and the Free Speech Union, who have paid for his legal fees, will also pay his fine, which is £240 plus a £96 surcharge. They are also considering appealing the verdict.

Coskun was found guilty of an offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act which criminalises using words or behaving in a disorderly manner, or displaying material that is likely to harass, intimidate or distress others.

He was also found guilty under section 31(1)(c) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which makes the public order offence "religiously aggravated".

Coskun is an atheist of Armenian and Kurdish heritage with a long history of protesting against the Turkish government. He said his demonstration was a protest against the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan . . . 

Continue @ NSS. 

Coskun Guilty Verdict Is 'Surrender To Blasphemy Laws

Maryam Namazie ✊ The right to blasphemy, a cornerstone of free expression and democratic societies, is a universal human right and demand.

It is not limited to or dependant on one’s ‘identity’ or lottery of birth. In fact, it matters most to those living under totalitarian and theocratic states.

In many countries under the hold of theocrats, like Iran and Afghanistan, being a woman in and of itself is an act of blasphemy, our bodies, hair, eyes, voices. Sitting in the front of the bus reserved for men in a system of sex apartheid: blasphemy. Refusing to wear the compulsory veil or laughing out loud: blasphemy. Being an atheist, gay, apostate or ex-Muslim: blasphemy. Opposing a religious state or the rule of clerics: blasphemy. Celebrating 1 May or 8 March: blasphemy…

The struggle to blaspheme is a struggle for the right to be fully human.

The Haymarket Affair (where a number of workers were killed and four executed in Chicago in 1886 for protesting for an eight-hour day) has become a symbol of the international struggle for workers’ rights with May Day marked worldwide. Likewise, the attack on Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, ten years ago, has become a symbol of the international struggle for the right to free expression and is marked worldwide.

Thank you Charlie for poking fun at Gods, masters and prophets. On this tragic anniversary, we honour you and all our fallen who have challenged the sacred and taboo and changed the world one blasphemy at a time.

#thankyouCharlie

#RireDeDieu

See Inna Shevchenko piece in Charlie Hebdo.

Maryam Namazie is a political activist, campaigner and blogger

Thank You Charlie Hebdo

Maryam Namazie✊ Blasphemy – and of course apostasy, heresy, enmity against god – are portrayed negatively and always from the perspective of the religious. 


The religious view is the default view. Blasphemy is therefore, seen to be at best offensive and hurtful. At worst it is seen to be a danger to national security, morality, stability of the state and by extension society, to be stamped out by any means necessary.

From our perspective, the perspective of dissenters and freethinkers, it is a cause for celebration. Particularly the celebration of blasphemous women at the centre of change.

The history of blasphemy is considered to be predominantly male but I would argue, it is female. Because being a woman is in and of itself an act of blasphemy. Our body, our hair, our eyes, our voice, our sexuality… A deviant form of man before we even think or speak.

Not individuals in our own right but extensions of male guardians and honour. A deviant form of man. To be rectified only by ensuring silence, obedience, submission through mass violence.

Not seen and not heard.

Much of women’s blasphemy has been and continues to be erased and made invisible. Just take, for example, the witch hunts of 15-17th century Europe where thousands of women were burnt at the stake.

Many killed because they refused to submit to patriarchal control.

Until the 18th century, countless others put in scold’s bridles, an iron muzzle that enclosed the head, was slid into the mouth and pressed down on top of the tongue, often with a spike on the tongue, as a compress. It functioned to silence and cause extreme pain, to scare and intimidate the woman into submission. A metal version of the hijab and burqa.

Silvia Federici in her book Witches, Witch-hunting and Women says the witch hunts were legally approved, religiously sanctioned mass assaults on women’s bodies.

Women’s ‘crimes’ were exaggerated to justify horrendous punishments as effective means to terrorise society, isolate victims, discourage resistance.

Used to control female sexuality which was seen as a social threat needing to be repressed into ‘acceptable female social behaviour.’

Sound familiar?

How many women are similarly being killed, shunned, erased, imprisoned, persecuted, silenced on a mass scale by the Islamists as we speak? Or by the Christian-Right, Jewish-Right, Hindutva, Buddhist-Right… for the “crime” of being women. Targeted by religion and the religious-Right obsessed with policing women’s bodies.

And yet still we rise.

Blasphemous women have been at the forefront of challenging the established order and the sacred and subverting the status quo, often at great personal risk.

At #CDOslo2024, we honour them and we celebrate blasphemy, which has throughout history been a catalyst for social change.

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

Being A Woman Is In And Of Itself An Act Of Blasphemy

Atheist Republic 👮 A Pakistani police officer shot and killed a man who was being held in custody after he was accused of blasphemy, authorities in Pakistan reported on September 12th.


The fatal shooting happened inside a highly protected police station in Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. 

The incident occurred after the victim, a Muslim hotel owner identified as Abdul Ali, was arrested for reportedly making derogatory statements against the Prophet Muhammad.

Muhammad Baloch, the senior police superintendent in Quetta, said authorities arrested the policeman involved in the shooting and filed a murder case against him.

On September 11th, witnesses said that an angry mob of dozens of residents quickly surrounded the police detention facility when Ali was held in the Kharotabad neighborhood and demanded the authorities hand over Ali to them so that they could kill them.

Police reported that the protesters even threw a grenade at the building, though the resulting blast did not cause any injuries. They said the mob violence forced them to transfer Ali to the police station in the central garrison area in Quetta, where Ali was fatally shot and killed “inside the lockup by an on-duty policeman.”

Continue reading @ Atheist Republic.

Pakistan’s Blasphemy Crisis ☁ Police Officer Murders Blasphemy Accused

Dr John Coulter ✍ Many Christians have been quite rightly outraged by the Olympic Games’ opening ceremony, branding part of it as an insult on one of the faith’s most important events - the Last Supper.

While this specific part of what was an exceptionally boring overall opening ceremony has produced an apology to Christians from the organisers, the Christian Churches should not rest on any laurels, but should now build on this brief part of Christian unity which they have achieved.

What the Christian Churches must not do is follow my example when I attended a concert in Newcastle Upon Tyne by the hard-hitting, controversial comedian Jimmy Carr.

Ironically, Carr made a relevant point during his performance when ‘having a go’ at the Christian faith when he posed the serious question - what are you going to do?

Theologically, Carr has hit the nail on the head. Society can poke fun and even ridicule Christianity, but Christians in the 21st century seem powerless, or unwilling, to fight back.

Historically, Christianity over the centuries since the death and resurrection of Christ have had some pretty ruthless kickbacks - the Crusades of the Middle Ages, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Puritan witch finder trials to name but three.

Indeed, modern day television sitcoms have also had a field day with the Christian denominations from All Gas and Gaiters in the Sixties in terms of the Anglican Communion, to Father Ted for the Catholic Church, and the Protestant fundamentalist Pastor Begbie in Give My Head Peace, not to mention the bumbling vicar in the Dad’s Army TV series.

So where do the Christian Churches go having gained a token victory with an apology over the controversial section of the Paris Olympics’ opening? The reality check is that Christian denominations must not now revert to their age-old tradition of ridiculing each others’ theology with rows over petty differences, such as women wearing hats to worship, which translation of the Bible to use, and what musical instruments should be used in places of worship.

Here on The Pensive Quill, I’ve argued the case for Christian unity in terms of a common cause to which all denominations can sign up to.

While the deplorable scenes depicted in the Paris Olympics opening ceremony has caused a sizeable backlash in the Christian community, we should not forget the Christians athletes who have taken part with honour in the actual Olympics themselves.

The strategy which Christianity must adopt is to ensure that such scenes depicted in the opening ceremony are never repeated again. An apology is not enough. Society needs to understand that there will be severe consequences if the Christian faith is mocked like this again.

After all, if Jewish ceremonies had been mocked, it would be branded as anti-semitism; if the Muslim faith was mocked, it would be Islamophobia, with the more fundamentalist Islamics resorting to a terror campaign.

If Hinduism, Sikhism or the faith of the Roma community was mocked, it would be regarded as racism. Theologically liberal Christianity has pushed the ‘God Is Love’ agenda so hard that no one is scared of a backlash from Christians should the faith be mocked.

As a faith, Christians need to remember the Biblical New Testament example of Jesus Christ Himself when he confronted the money changers in the temple. He took positive action and physically threw them out of the temple.

I am not suggesting that Christians resort to violence and adopt the terror tactics of militant Islam, or revert to the draconian methods of the Inquisition or Puritan witch finders. In following Christ’s example in the temple, Christianity must lay to rest that it is a ‘roll over and lie down’ faith.

Many Christians are quite content to regard such displays as the Paris Olympics opening ceremony as further evidence that we are theologically in the ‘end days’ before the Second Coming of Christ and that we Christians should just accept this persecution.

However, if we do not follow Christ’s example and defend our faith, a time will come when worshipping in church or even preaching the Gospel as part of open air evangelism will be banned completely.

Using only democratic means, the situation must be created that those who wish to mock our Christian faith will think twice before attempting anything for fear of a Christian backlash.

In practical action terms, it means getting more evangelical Christians involved in politics whereby legislation can be passed which prevents such mocking rituals from happening in the future.
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online.

Time For Churches To Seize Momentum Over Olympics Opening Ceremony

Atheist Republic ✒ A Christian father and son were attacked by hundreds of enraged Muslims in eastern Pakistan over allegations that the son desecrated pages of the Quran, leaving their house as well as their shoemaking factory ransacked and burned.


The angry Muslim mob went on a rampage on May 25th when locals claimed they saw burnt pages of the Quran outside the two Christian men’s house and accused the son of being behind it. The mob then set their house and shoemaking factory on fire and attacked the son.

The incident occurred in the Mujahid Colony residential area in Sargodha in the province of Punjab, according to district police chief Assad Ijaz Malhi. Malhi also said authorities quickly responded and saved the lives of two men when the mob was beating up one of them.

Malhi also said the police quickly rescued the two wounded men and transported them to a hospital where they were in stable condition, adding that the situation is now under control. The officers are now investigating the allegations. Following multiple police raids, at least 100 men were arrested and charged with anti-terrorism charges while authorities are chasing others who may have been involved in the attack.

Continue reading @ Atheist Republic.

Mob Unleashes Hell Upon Christians Over Burnt Quran Pages In Pakistan

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