UPDATE: Yousef Muhammad Ali’s trial has been delayed to 14 September 2015 to give the judge time to receive further documentation on his case.
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 a perpetrator. His case was sent to a public tribunal in Darbandikhan, which rather than address the threats to Yousef Muhammad Ali’s life, had him arrested. He was then transferred to Sulaymaniyah jail. On 15th December 2014, his sentence was renewed until the 22nd December 2014. After campaigning by rights activists and journalists in Kurdistan and abroad he was released on bail on 17 December 2014. His hearing date is on 13 July 2015.
PLEASE SUPPORT HIM BY WRITING TO THE KURDISH AUTHORITIES AND URGING THEM TO RELEASE HIM.
You can write to the below:
Kurdistan Parliament Email & Contact number:
parliamentsite@perleman.org
00964662230242
Ministry of Justice Email & Contact number:
dad@mojkurdistan.com
00964662551983
Kurdistan Regional Government Email:
info@dmi.krg.org
admin@dmi.krg.org
Please also copy me in the emails so I can forward it to his solicitor: maryamnamazie@gmail.com.
Kurdistan should pave a progression towards and independent state with liberal mile stones. The persecution of Muhammed will only delay this progress and dim people hopes and expectation for Kurdistan
I think our government should establish a system which allows people to practice their freedom without being condemned by any groups and it’s time to reduce power of religious groups to limit people’s freedom we are always proud to say that kurdish culture is great because it’s tolerance
towards other people’s believes and it’s an open society and not fundamental and such a cations are jeopardising the image of kurdish people in the world.
I used Prof Paul Braterman’s letter as a draft. Thank you
We Kurds have earned the admiration of the world for our courage in the fight against ISIS. However, prosecuting beliefs will sadly damage our honour as defenders of freedom, and put us in the same shoes as ISIS’s despotic approach to human rights.
I therefore urge you to immediately drop charges against Yousef Muhamad Ali. He has been teaching well-established science in a science class, but apparently this offended some aggressive religious traditionalists. He has also expressed his personal opinions on Facebook which should be his private matter. For this, he has received death threats, when he should have received (to the extent that the difficult situation permits) police protection.
As a Kurdish woman who has experienced painful struggles of oppression from foreign rulers, I urge you once again to release Yousef Muhamad Ali immediately, and to take action against those who have threatened your own internal security by making lawless threats against him.
Sincerely,
I wrote as follows:
The people of Europe have been very supportive of, and admire, the Kurdish forces battling Daesh. This bravery seems at odds with the action of prosecuting a young man for having an opinion about those very beliefs which are powering the Daesh army.
You should release Yousef Muhammad Ali unconditionally and accept his views are just as valuable to a future state of Kurdistan as those of of other Kurds.
John Morgan.
Hello
I have been informed that your government is taking legal action against Yousef Muhammad Ali for criticising Islam.
I am writing to you to request that you drop these charges and pursue a path whereby criticism of any religion would not be illegal.
This is important so that your country would place respect for life, person and conscience before and above any religion and thus be a country of its citizens of whatever religion.
Furthermore, by not pursuing the legal path against Yousef Muhammad Ali you are sending an important message of inclusion to all your citizens, particularly those being not Muslim, that while your country may allow itself to be guided by Islam it will not become opresive to any other religion.
Thereby your country would have greatest chances to stand by the greater good while encouraging its society to be guided by the profound message found in religion, particularly in Islam.
With hopes in a good future for Yousef Muhammad Ali and for Kurdistan.
Hello everyone, thank you so much, including to those who are sending me copies of their emails. I am forwarding all these to Yousef and his lawyer. Let’s keep the pressure on and hope we can help him secure his freedom. I will keep you posted.
Letter sent:
Dear Sir,
The people of Kurdistan have won world wide admiration for their struggle against the fascist ISIS/Daesh gangsters. The Kurds are seen as an oasis of reason in an ever darkening Middle East and tolerant towards other minorities and women.
I was therefore greatly disturbed to hear of the arrest of Yousef Muhammad Ali after he complained of death threats from people who could not tolerate free discourse on the matter of religion. It is this kind of violent intolerance that fuels the very enemies at your door.
I urge you to show the world that the Kurdish people stand for freedom in all walks of like including theological criticism. You are better than those who seek to destroy your nation. Those who issue threats are the real threat to not only your future but mankind’s.
Freedom of speech is the basis of all reason.
Please drop the charges against Yousef and deal with those who would seek to harm him and impose their views through violence.
Yours sincerely
Dear Sirs
I have been living in UK for the last 10 years and I have never been prouder for being a Kurd than I’ve been over the lastt year because of our stance against Islamist fundamentalists and the way we harboured hundred of thousands of refugees irrespective of their ethnicity or religion. Around the world people see us as a glimmer of hope for a civilised democratic society in Middle East. However the prosecution of this gentleman not only damages the reputation of Kurds in the international community, but it would put us almost on par with the very Islamists that we are fighting. This trial is not just about the freedom of speech of one citizen of Kurdistan, but it is about our society. Please don’t shatter the image that we’ve worked so hard to build in the eyes of the rest of the world. It’s at time like this were we have to ascend above religious dogma and tribal rules to join the remainder of the democratic societies. We have been very good to set a good example in the Middle East and I hope you’re going to reassert our developed status as a society by dropping this trial.
Dear Sirs, Madams,
By putting this man on trial for speaking his mind you put yourself in the same corner as ISIS, and the world will view it as such.
Surely Islam, with its more than thousand year old tradition, is robust enough to withstand free thought ?
By prosecuting a man for his thoughts you will lose my sympathy and support, and also of any freethinking Westerner in your struggle.
Please reconsider.
King regards,
(forgot to CC you, sorry)
Dear Sirs,
your country has recently won the admiration and support of the peoples of Europe and North America for its courageous struggle against Daesh.
Many people now believe that it should be the policy of Western governments to support your struggle for an independent country and to assist you in establishing such, and to give support protecting Kurdish lands and peoples.
However, this goodwill is due in no small part to the image of the women fighters of the Peshmerga and the impression that they give that the people of Kurdistan are comfortable with the basic principles of human rights, such as democracy, freedom of speech and the rights of women.
Your imprisonment and trial of Yousef Muhammad Ali is a grave threat to this goodwill.
I urge that he be released without delay and that those you have threatened him be subject to the proper attention of your justice system.
Furthermore I implore that you ensure that Mr Ali’s is protected from any attacks to his person or livelihood.
Only by these actions can you show the world that you are that which we wish for – a worthy ally in the struggle against fascism.
Yours sincerely
Thank you
My letter: The Kurds have earned the admiration of the world for their courage. However, prosecuting beliefs will sadly damage their honour as defenders of freedom.
I therefore urge you to immediately drop charges against Yousef Muhamad Ali. He has been teaching well-established science in a science class, but apparently this offended some religious traditionalists. He has also expressed his personal opinions on Facebook. For this, he has received death threats, when he should have received (to the extent that the difficult situation permits) police protection.
As a long-time admirer of the Kurdish people, I urge you once again to release Yousef Muhamad Ali immediately, and to take action against those who have threatened your own internal security by making lawless threats against him.
Sincerely,
Defenders of freedom? Kurds? Just keep watching them for how their government would treat the opposing voices.
Shut the fuck up