Category: News
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Joint letter in defence of Bangladeshi bloggers
Here’s a joint letter in defence of Bangladeshi Bloggers. 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…
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Mass protests in Iraq: ‘Neither Shia nor Sunni, but secularism’
The protests, which started in several cities in southern Iraq last week, quickly spread to the rest of Iraq, reaching their peak on 7 August. Around half a million people came out in Baghdad alone, chanting slogans against the corrupt and reactionary rulers. Hundreds of thousands of others have demonstrated in Samawah, Al Diwaniyah, Basra,…
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Yousef Muhammad Ali trial date set for 14 September
I had written about the trial of Yousef Muhammad Ali in Iraqi Kurdistan for criticising Islam earlier. His hearing date (originally set for 15 June) was delayed to 14 September 2015 to give the judge time to receive further documentation on his case. Please keep the pressure on. Below is a letter from Yousef about his situation.…
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WPI statement on Iran nuclear deal
Finally, after protracted talks between the Islamic regime of Iran and the P5+1, and following the framework accord agreed in Lausanne in April, the parties have signed a deal, which will come into force after ratification by the UN’s Security Council. The Islamic Republic has conceded wide-ranging restrictions on its nuclear programme: the level of…
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Yousef Muhammad Ali faces trial for criticising Islam
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…
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Defend 4 facing death and imprisonment for homosexuality in Iran
The International Committee against Execution in Iran calls on gay rights organisations to initiate a widespread, international campaign to defend the rights of LGBT in countries under Islamic rule, including Iran. Based on recent news reports, two individuals in Sirjan and Bandar Abbas have been sentenced to 25 years in prison charged with homosexuality. 27…
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Broadcast the news of executions in Iran too!
An open letter from the International Committee against Execution to Walter Steinmeier, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Germany Dear Mr. Steinmeier, please broadcast this news as well! In the German news media and many news programs of major networks, there is a lot of talk about the negotiations of the “Five plus One” group with…
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Join 200 women’s rights and secular organisations urging British government to stop parallel legal systems
One Law for All, Southall Black Sisters, Centre for Secular Space, IKWRO and others plan to deliver the below statement to 10 Downing Street in the near future. If you and your organisation would like to sign on to the letter, please email onelawforall@gmail.com by 30 August 2015. The letter has received coverage in the…
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Support the Kurdistan Secular Centre (KSC)
The Kurdistan Secular Centre (KSC) was formally established at a 19 April public meeting in Suleymaniya, Iraqi Kurdistan, attended by hundreds of supporters and by national media. The Centre, created to promote secularism and the separation of religion from the state and governing system, was initiated by a number of prominent intellectuals, academics, trade unionists,…
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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…
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We must support ‘Esha’
I recently blogged about ‘Esha’, a young woman facing blasphemy charges in Pakistan. Some of you have been asking questions about the case so here is more information from rights activist and journalist Rahila Gupta who is raising money for her case. Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain supports ‘Esha’s’ case and has donated money to…
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The Women’s Court in the former Yugoslavia
Sarajevo, May 8, 2015 Marieme Helie Lucas Yesterday May 7 the Women’s Court on war crimes against women during the war in the 1990s formally started in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Women have come together from all the corners of the former-Yugoslavia to participate in the Women’s Court in Sarajevo, to demand justice for the crimes committed…