Dear friend

I wanted to write a quick note updating you on the work of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, reminding you of some important events, and asking for some help.

March 14: International Day to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates

We will be organising another international day to defend blasphemers and apostates. On the day we will be publishing our report on the status of apostates internationally with Atheist Alliance International and highlighting a number of cases, such as that of Alex Aan, Zanyar and Loghman Moradi, Raif Badawi, Turki Al-Hamad and Hamza Kashgari.

Ex-Muslim groups in the USA and France

Waleed Al-Husseini, the Palestinian blogger and atheist who CEMB advocated on behalf when he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority in 2010 is now in Paris, France and is organising a Council of Ex-Muslims of France with our help. For those interested in joining or assisting in the establishment of the new organisation, click here.

Also, Muslimish, a group of US-based ex-Muslims and Muslims with questions about Islam, has regular meetings in NYC, Detroit and online and are launching new groups in Washington DC and Chicago. For more information, click here.

Both organisations are affiliated with the CEMB and are part of a large network of Council of Ex-Muslims, which began in Germany.

Meet-ups and events in Britain

There are regular events and meet-ups in the UK, which you can find here. Upcoming events in London include: an apostate refugee and asylum meet-up and an ex-Muslim women’s lunch in February as well as evening drinks with Sudanese atheist Nahla Mahmoud on 22 March. There is an event in Manchester as well as bowling and an infidelicious lunch in Leeds. Moreover, I will be speaking in Birmingham, Frankfurt, Washington DC and Dublin in the next few months.

June anniversary luncheon in London and Poster Competition results

Given the success of last year’s anniversary luncheon, we are holding a 6th anniversary luncheon in London on 15th June at 1230pm for a 1pm start with keynote speaker Kenan Malik and lots of other great speakers and entertainers. Tickets are £35; £30 unwaged. Reserve your space now. Please note that the winners of our poster competition organised by Sultan Aman will be announced at the lunch. If you want to submit a poster, here is more information on our requirements.

Nomination for Journalist of the Year

For your information, I have been shortlisted for Journalist of the Year Award at the Dods Women in Public Life Awards for my personal blog. I am delighted, particularly given some of the other women shortlisted like our young hero Malala Yousefzai who has been shortlisted for the International Women’s Rights Champion Award. To see the shortlist for all awards, click here.

Computer and other help

We urgently need someone with MySQL database knowledge to help us. If you have such knowledge and some time to spare, can you please email me at exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com?

If you haven’t already, read member statements or join the CEMB here and participate in the active CEMB web-forum.

Also, don’t forget to donate to our important work. Any amount helps and makes a huge difference in our fight against Islamism and in support of apostates and blasphemers in the UK and internationally.

For those of you who have already donated, thank you. A particularly special thanks goes to those who have been donating regularly via standing order. We couldn’t do all our work without your support!

Warmest wishes

Maryam

Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
BM Box 1919, London WC1N 3XX, UK
tel: +44 (0) 7719166731
email: exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com
web: http://ex-muslim.org.uk/

Company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales under company number 8059509