The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain held its second Annual General Meeting on 13 December 2009 in London.
The AGM unanimously adopted a statement expressing the organisation’s concern over the Swiss vote to ban minarets. The statement said:
‘Far-right proposals to ban minarets are divisive, reactionary and in line with the 'Clash of Civilisations' agenda, which hands over 'Muslims' or those labelled as such to the political Islamic movement and denies the universality of the demand to live a life worthy of the 21st century.
‘Believing in Islam or any religion for that matter is not a crime. Neither is it a crime to have minarets in mosques. What are crimes, however, are groups or individuals using religion to threaten people to death, intimidate them, violate their rights, and discriminate against them. Society has to address these crimes and prosecute those who threaten or terrorise people - not ban minarets!
‘Political Islam is a political phenomenon that demands a political response. This response must include targeting the discrimination, abuse and criminal acts that take place against children in Islamic schools, against citizens in Sharia councils and tribunals, against apostates and freethinkers, gays and women who are killed in the name of honour...’
‘The Enlightenment didn't ban church towers in order to successfully push Christianity into the private sphere. The same must be done with political Islam.’
The AGM unanimously adopted several motions calling for:
* ‘the immediate release of all those imprisoned for 'apostasy'; a cancellation of laws wherever they exist that punish the right and freedom to renounce or criticise Islam; and an abolition of the death penalty,’
* ‘the unconditional right to asylum for apostates given that apostasy is punishable by death under Sharia law,’ and
* ‘an end to the use and implementation of Sharia law in Britain and everywhere and the promotion of universal rights and secularism.’
Moreover, the AGM reiterated its support of the One Law for All Campaign and the newly founded International Bureau for Laïcite’s Charter for Secularism.
The AGM also adopted the organisation’s constitution and annual and financial reports. Furthermore, it thanked Maryam Namazie for her work as Spokesperson of the organisation.
At the meeting, eleven people were elected to the CEMB’s Management Committee: Asad Abbas, Syed Jahiz, Jalil Jalili, Rony Miah, Reza Moradi, Fariborz Pooya, Hassan Radwan, Faranak Rezaie, Kamran Sheikh, Hypatia Theon, and Zia Zaffar. Fariborz Pooya was elected Chair; Asad Abbas, Secretary and Zia Zaffar, Treasurer.
To view the CEMB’s annual report, background information on Management Committee Members or our full statement on the Swiss vote to ban minarets, click here.
Notes:
To support the important work of the Council for the next year, please post a cheque made payable to CEMB to BM Box 2387, London WC1N 3XX or pay via Worldpay.
You can also help our organisation by buying £45 tickets to a three-course fundraising dinner on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 7:00pm at one of London’s finest gastro-pubs. The dinner’s keynote speaker will be AC Grayling, the renowned philosopher, author, writer, reviewer, and broadcaster. Once payment has been received, we will send you your ticket(s), along with details of the venue and a menu to choose from.
For more information, contact Maryam Namazie at +44 (0) 7719166731 or exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
CEMB statement on Swiss vote to ban minarets
The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain is extremely concerned over the Swiss vote to ban minarets.
Far-right proposals to ban minarets are divisive, reactionary and in line with the ‘Clash of Civilisations' agenda, which hands over 'Muslims' or those labelled as such to the political Islamic movement and denies the universality of the demand to live a life worthy of the 21st century.
Believing in Islam or any religion for that matter is not a crime. Neither is it a crime to have minarets in mosques. What are crimes, however, are groups or individuals using religion to threaten people to death, intimidate them, violate their rights, and discriminate against them. Society has to address these crimes and prosecute those who threaten or terrorise people - not ban minarets!
Political Islam is a political phenomenon that demands a political response. This response must include targeting the discrimination, abuse and criminal acts that take place against children in Islamic schools, against citizens in Sharia councils and tribunals, against apostates and freethinkers, gays and women who are killed in the name of honour...
This response must demand a banning of Sharia law and Islamic schools, along with all faith-based laws and schools.
It must exert pressure on governments to stop appeasing Islamic states and demand that such states be politically isolated.
It must demand the prohibition of any kind of financial, material or moral support by the state or state institutions to religion and religious activities and institutions.
It must support those who are at the forefront of fighting the political Islamic movement.
It must demand an end to the promotion of cultural relativism.
It must demand that religion be a private matter.
It must call for secularism - the complete separation of religion from the state, education and legal system - as a minimum precondition for the respect of rights and freedoms in society.
It must defend rather than restrict universal rights.
The Enlightenment didn't ban church towers in order to successfully push Christianity into the private sphere. The same must be done with political Islam.
And that is what civilised humanity intends to do.
Far-right proposals to ban minarets are divisive, reactionary and in line with the ‘Clash of Civilisations' agenda, which hands over 'Muslims' or those labelled as such to the political Islamic movement and denies the universality of the demand to live a life worthy of the 21st century.
Believing in Islam or any religion for that matter is not a crime. Neither is it a crime to have minarets in mosques. What are crimes, however, are groups or individuals using religion to threaten people to death, intimidate them, violate their rights, and discriminate against them. Society has to address these crimes and prosecute those who threaten or terrorise people - not ban minarets!
Political Islam is a political phenomenon that demands a political response. This response must include targeting the discrimination, abuse and criminal acts that take place against children in Islamic schools, against citizens in Sharia councils and tribunals, against apostates and freethinkers, gays and women who are killed in the name of honour...
This response must demand a banning of Sharia law and Islamic schools, along with all faith-based laws and schools.
It must exert pressure on governments to stop appeasing Islamic states and demand that such states be politically isolated.
It must demand the prohibition of any kind of financial, material or moral support by the state or state institutions to religion and religious activities and institutions.
It must support those who are at the forefront of fighting the political Islamic movement.
It must demand an end to the promotion of cultural relativism.
It must demand that religion be a private matter.
It must call for secularism - the complete separation of religion from the state, education and legal system - as a minimum precondition for the respect of rights and freedoms in society.
It must defend rather than restrict universal rights.
The Enlightenment didn't ban church towers in order to successfully push Christianity into the private sphere. The same must be done with political Islam.
And that is what civilised humanity intends to do.
Stop execution of Mosleh Zamani
The Islamic Republic of Iran intends to execute a young man who 6 years ago was imprisoned for having had a sexual relationship with his lover. The execution is to be carried out soon.
Mosleh Zamani was only 17 when he was arrested for having had sex with his girlfriend. Both he and his girlfriend were arrested by police and later sentenced to death by a court in Sanandaj. This sentence has been approved by the Supreme court of the Islamic Republic.
In 2007 the wave of protests from the people of Sanandaj and international Human rights organisations managed to halt the execution. However, the Kurdistan Province authorities have moved Mosleh to Dizel Abad Prison in Kemanshah, in order to be able to execute him away from the public protest.
Mosleh became paralysed once the news was broken to him when they took him to solitary confinement where those on death row are kept before being killed. The state of Kermanshah has unashamedly announced its intention to execute him and some others before Friday 18th December and use him as a deterrent to others.
The world should not remain silent when such gross abuse of human rights occur. Let us not forget that Mosleh was imprisoned in the first place for being in a sexual relationship with his girlfriend. This barbaric act of the Islamic Republic should outrage everyone.
To pressure the Islamic Republic to abandon these barbaric acts, it is the duty of each one of us to raise our voices and join forces to prevent Mosleh’s execution.
Please join us in our struggle for humanity. Write to the regime and let them know you demand an end to his execution.
And most importantly act quickly. Time is running out.
Please inform us of your actions.
International Committee Against Executions (ICAE)
December 16th, 2009
Contact: farshad Hoseini 0031633602627
farshadhoseini@yahoo.com
or Mina Ahadi 00491775692413
MinaAhadi@aol.com
___________________________
With great thanks to Sara Banoo for translation
Mosleh Zamani was only 17 when he was arrested for having had sex with his girlfriend. Both he and his girlfriend were arrested by police and later sentenced to death by a court in Sanandaj. This sentence has been approved by the Supreme court of the Islamic Republic.
In 2007 the wave of protests from the people of Sanandaj and international Human rights organisations managed to halt the execution. However, the Kurdistan Province authorities have moved Mosleh to Dizel Abad Prison in Kemanshah, in order to be able to execute him away from the public protest.
Mosleh became paralysed once the news was broken to him when they took him to solitary confinement where those on death row are kept before being killed. The state of Kermanshah has unashamedly announced its intention to execute him and some others before Friday 18th December and use him as a deterrent to others.
The world should not remain silent when such gross abuse of human rights occur. Let us not forget that Mosleh was imprisoned in the first place for being in a sexual relationship with his girlfriend. This barbaric act of the Islamic Republic should outrage everyone.
To pressure the Islamic Republic to abandon these barbaric acts, it is the duty of each one of us to raise our voices and join forces to prevent Mosleh’s execution.
Please join us in our struggle for humanity. Write to the regime and let them know you demand an end to his execution.
And most importantly act quickly. Time is running out.
Please inform us of your actions.
International Committee Against Executions (ICAE)
December 16th, 2009
Contact: farshad Hoseini 0031633602627
farshadhoseini@yahoo.com
or Mina Ahadi 00491775692413
MinaAhadi@aol.com
___________________________
With great thanks to Sara Banoo for translation
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Act Now: Houri-olein Ghanavati and her 7 months old child face deportation to Iran
Urgent Action Appeal
Houri-olyn Ghanavati
Date of Birth: 1981-11- 25
Ms. Houri-olein Ghanavati and her 7 months old child are at risk of being forcibly returned to Iran by Netherlands authorities
December 13, 2009
Possible forcible return / Fear of torture or ill-treatment
Netherlands Immigration Authorities and UNHCR in Netherlands
Ms. Houri-olein Ghanevati UNHCR and her seven months old child, Iranian asylum seekers
IFIR learned that Ms. Houri olein Ghanevati and her child are in imminent danger of being forcibly returned to Iran by Netherlands authorities. She would be at risk of arbitrary detention, torture or ill treatment in Iran.
Background information on Hour-olein Ghanevati:
Houri-olyn Ghanevati and her seven months old child are victims of a violent regime toward the women in Iran. Ms. Houri olein Ghanevati flee Iran with her child with false documents and reach Netherlands in hope to seek asylum. When they arrived in Netherlands, the authenticity of their documents was questioned. Before Ms. Hour-olein Ghanevati make asylum claim the Netherlands’ police arrested her. The Netherlands police separated mother and the child.
The Netherlands authorities want to send Hour-olyn and her child back to Iran.Ms. Houri olein Ghanevati has committed no crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity, as defined in the international instruments drawn up to make provision in respect of such crimes.
Ms. Houri olein Ghanevati would face a serious threat to her life and liberty should be deported to Iran. Being a woman in Iran and seeking asylum place her and her child’s lives in danger by the Iranian Islamic government. They warrant recognition as refugees and merit the protection foreseen by the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Their lives and freedom would be in danger if they were refouled to Iran.
IFIR believes that Ms. Houri-olein Ghanevati fulfils the criteria for refugee recognition detailed in relevant international guidelines. Therefore IFIR strongly urges the Netherlands and UNHCR authorities to visit her case and grant her refugee recognition based on her well-founded fear of future persecution and imprisonment.
The deportation of Ms. Houri-olein Ghanevati from Netherlands to Iran would violate the most fundamental principle of international refugee law, the principle of -non-refoulement, which prohibits the forcible return of a person to a country where there is a risk of grave human rights abuses.
The political and human rights situation in Iran:
Based on information gathered by the International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) first-hand and from well-known international human rights organizations, the Iranian government continues to be a major abuser of human rights with no evidence of improvement. Systematic abuses include extra-judicial killings and summary executions; widespread use of torture and other degrading treatment; arrest and detention; lack of fair trials; and harsh prison conditions.
Ansar-e Hezbollah, an organization of hard-line vigilantes who seek to enforce their vision of appropriate revolutionary comportment upon the society harass, beat, and intimidate the Iranian people with no justifiable reasoning. Those who demonstrate their disapproval of the regime or who do not observe dress codes or other modes of correct revolutionary conduct are the targets of the Hezbollah’s abuses. The women whose clothing does not cover their hair, all parts of the body except their hands and face, or those who wear makeup or nail polish are subjected to abuses. Ansar-e Hezbollah cells are organized throughout the country and linked to individual members of the country's leadership. Hezbollah has tremendous influence throughout the country. They are the ones who rape the women in the political prisons prior to their executions.
Vigilante violence includes attacking young persons considered too "un-Islamic" in their dress or activities, invading private homes, and abusing couples. Authorities enter homes to remove television satellite dishes, or to disrupt private gatherings in which men and women socialize, or where alcohol, mixed dancing, or other forbidden activities are offered or take place. For example, more than 1,000 satellite dishes were confiscated after the October soccer riots. Enforcement appears to be arbitrary, varying widely with the political climate and the individuals involved. Authorities are encouraging people to bribe them (sexual or monetary).
Social and political activities are forbidden in Islamic Republic of Iran and if social or political activists were identified they would face torture and heavy sentences. The people of Iran face harsh sentences. The Islamic Republic of Iran has institutionalized and brutally enforced sexual discrimination in all sectors of society; women cannot travel or work without the permission of their father or husband, and women has hardly any rights. Women are tortured, imprisoned, raped and executed based on accusations.
Trials in Iran are unfair and proceedings are summary. Hearings often last a few minutes, with defendants having no access to lawyers, no right to call witnesses in their defence and no right to appeal. The court's arbitrary judgements have been in contravention of internationally recognized standards regarding fair trials.
Forcible return of Iranian asylum seekers:
It is well known that the Islamic Republic of Iran has arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and killed Iranians who were forcibly returned to Iran if they had unlawfully departed from the Islamic Republic of Iran, had stayed abroad without authorization, and/or had applied for asylum in another country.
• A well-known example of persecution upon forcible return to Iran was reported in Amnesty International’s recent report on the forcible return of Iranian asylum seekers from Japan in October 2003. According to Amnesty International’s press release, a 58-year-old Iranian, an undocumented resident who converted to Christianity in Japan, was sent back to Iran in October 2003 and was arrested several days later. Five other Iranian undocumented residents Amnesty had been in contact with have been deported since the start of 2004, but only one has safely returned.
• In other examples from an Australian newspaper The Age (29/04/2002) two Iranian men refused refugee status by Australia after spending two years in detention at Woomera were arrested by security police on their return to Iran and ordered to appear before a revolutionary tribunal.
• Also, Karim Tuzhali, a former asylum seeker recognized as a refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is another well-known case. The Turkish authorities forcibly returned him to Iran on 20 June 1998. He was sentenced to death on 16 September 1998, in connection with his former membership of the banned armed opposition group, the Kurdistan Democratic party of Iran (KDPI). Karim Tuzhali was reportedly executed on 24 January 2002 at Mahabad prison, western Iran. He had been in detention for three years, allegedly in Orumieh prison, West Azerbaijan province. He had reportedly been tortured while in detention and there was apparently a delay in releasing his body to his family.
• In other cases, 50-year-old Khaled Shoghi, who was forcibly returned from Turkey and arrested in 1997, was tortured in Iran; Kheder Viesi, another returned asylum seeker, was sentenced to death in 1998 as well as Saleh Goudarzi, who was sentenced to death in 1999, and is detained in Sanandaj prison.
• One Iranian asylum seeker Esmail Usefi was killed two weeks after his deportation to Iran. Norwegian Refugee Councils in its pres release reported that Esmail Usefi was deported to Iran in 13 February 2004 and his body with broken head was discovered on 28 February 2004.
• An Iranian woman whose asylum request (Hale Sahba) was rejected by Canada was expelled from the country in December 2004. She was arrested by Iran’s security forces as she entered Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport,
IFIR considers the forcible return of Iranian asylum seekers to be a violation of the principle of non-refoulement. This principle prohibits the forcible return of a person to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened. It is a principle of customary international law, which binds all states. Morocco is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals immediately:
To the Netherlands interior ministry:
- Calling on them to immediately recognize Ms. Horel-Ein Ghanevatie as a refugee;
- Stressing that the forcible return of any person to a country where they are at risk of torture or ill-treatment is a violation of the principle of non-refoulement;
To the UNHCR in Netherlands:
- Calling on them to intervene to secure the release of Ms. Horel-Ein Ghanevatie and to uphold their duty to protect those to whom they have granted refugee status.
- Urge them to afford Ms. Horel-Ein Ghanevatie protection and grant her recognition as a refugee.
Please send your letters to the UNHCR Netherlands office as well as the UNHCR office in Netherlands. Please remember to send a copy of your letters to our organization as well. A sample letter is provided for your convenience.
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It May Concern:
I / My Organization am / are writing to express my strongest concern over the fate of Ms. Horel-Ein Ghanevatie who is in Netherlands perison and is in danger of deportation to Iran.
I / My Organization urge(s) the Netherlands government to immediately grant her refugee status and protection and cancel all her deportation orders. I also urge the UNHCR to grant her refugee recognition. The International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) demands that Ms. Hour-olein Ghanevati be granted refugee status.
I am awaiting your immediate intervention in this life-threatening situation. Needless to say, the Netherlands government and UNHCR in Netherlands will be held accountable for Ms. I Houri-olein Ghanevati and her child’s lives and freedom.
Signed
Abdollah Asadi
Secretary of Interational federation of Iranian Refugees.
CC: abe.asadi@glocalnet.net
Houri-olyn Ghanavati
Date of Birth: 1981-11- 25
Ms. Houri-olein Ghanavati and her 7 months old child are at risk of being forcibly returned to Iran by Netherlands authorities
December 13, 2009
Possible forcible return / Fear of torture or ill-treatment
Netherlands Immigration Authorities and UNHCR in Netherlands
Ms. Houri-olein Ghanevati UNHCR and her seven months old child, Iranian asylum seekers
IFIR learned that Ms. Houri olein Ghanevati and her child are in imminent danger of being forcibly returned to Iran by Netherlands authorities. She would be at risk of arbitrary detention, torture or ill treatment in Iran.
Background information on Hour-olein Ghanevati:
Houri-olyn Ghanevati and her seven months old child are victims of a violent regime toward the women in Iran. Ms. Houri olein Ghanevati flee Iran with her child with false documents and reach Netherlands in hope to seek asylum. When they arrived in Netherlands, the authenticity of their documents was questioned. Before Ms. Hour-olein Ghanevati make asylum claim the Netherlands’ police arrested her. The Netherlands police separated mother and the child.
The Netherlands authorities want to send Hour-olyn and her child back to Iran.Ms. Houri olein Ghanevati has committed no crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity, as defined in the international instruments drawn up to make provision in respect of such crimes.
Ms. Houri olein Ghanevati would face a serious threat to her life and liberty should be deported to Iran. Being a woman in Iran and seeking asylum place her and her child’s lives in danger by the Iranian Islamic government. They warrant recognition as refugees and merit the protection foreseen by the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Their lives and freedom would be in danger if they were refouled to Iran.
IFIR believes that Ms. Houri-olein Ghanevati fulfils the criteria for refugee recognition detailed in relevant international guidelines. Therefore IFIR strongly urges the Netherlands and UNHCR authorities to visit her case and grant her refugee recognition based on her well-founded fear of future persecution and imprisonment.
The deportation of Ms. Houri-olein Ghanevati from Netherlands to Iran would violate the most fundamental principle of international refugee law, the principle of -non-refoulement, which prohibits the forcible return of a person to a country where there is a risk of grave human rights abuses.
The political and human rights situation in Iran:
Based on information gathered by the International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) first-hand and from well-known international human rights organizations, the Iranian government continues to be a major abuser of human rights with no evidence of improvement. Systematic abuses include extra-judicial killings and summary executions; widespread use of torture and other degrading treatment; arrest and detention; lack of fair trials; and harsh prison conditions.
Ansar-e Hezbollah, an organization of hard-line vigilantes who seek to enforce their vision of appropriate revolutionary comportment upon the society harass, beat, and intimidate the Iranian people with no justifiable reasoning. Those who demonstrate their disapproval of the regime or who do not observe dress codes or other modes of correct revolutionary conduct are the targets of the Hezbollah’s abuses. The women whose clothing does not cover their hair, all parts of the body except their hands and face, or those who wear makeup or nail polish are subjected to abuses. Ansar-e Hezbollah cells are organized throughout the country and linked to individual members of the country's leadership. Hezbollah has tremendous influence throughout the country. They are the ones who rape the women in the political prisons prior to their executions.
Vigilante violence includes attacking young persons considered too "un-Islamic" in their dress or activities, invading private homes, and abusing couples. Authorities enter homes to remove television satellite dishes, or to disrupt private gatherings in which men and women socialize, or where alcohol, mixed dancing, or other forbidden activities are offered or take place. For example, more than 1,000 satellite dishes were confiscated after the October soccer riots. Enforcement appears to be arbitrary, varying widely with the political climate and the individuals involved. Authorities are encouraging people to bribe them (sexual or monetary).
Social and political activities are forbidden in Islamic Republic of Iran and if social or political activists were identified they would face torture and heavy sentences. The people of Iran face harsh sentences. The Islamic Republic of Iran has institutionalized and brutally enforced sexual discrimination in all sectors of society; women cannot travel or work without the permission of their father or husband, and women has hardly any rights. Women are tortured, imprisoned, raped and executed based on accusations.
Trials in Iran are unfair and proceedings are summary. Hearings often last a few minutes, with defendants having no access to lawyers, no right to call witnesses in their defence and no right to appeal. The court's arbitrary judgements have been in contravention of internationally recognized standards regarding fair trials.
Forcible return of Iranian asylum seekers:
It is well known that the Islamic Republic of Iran has arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and killed Iranians who were forcibly returned to Iran if they had unlawfully departed from the Islamic Republic of Iran, had stayed abroad without authorization, and/or had applied for asylum in another country.
• A well-known example of persecution upon forcible return to Iran was reported in Amnesty International’s recent report on the forcible return of Iranian asylum seekers from Japan in October 2003. According to Amnesty International’s press release, a 58-year-old Iranian, an undocumented resident who converted to Christianity in Japan, was sent back to Iran in October 2003 and was arrested several days later. Five other Iranian undocumented residents Amnesty had been in contact with have been deported since the start of 2004, but only one has safely returned.
• In other examples from an Australian newspaper The Age (29/04/2002) two Iranian men refused refugee status by Australia after spending two years in detention at Woomera were arrested by security police on their return to Iran and ordered to appear before a revolutionary tribunal.
• Also, Karim Tuzhali, a former asylum seeker recognized as a refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is another well-known case. The Turkish authorities forcibly returned him to Iran on 20 June 1998. He was sentenced to death on 16 September 1998, in connection with his former membership of the banned armed opposition group, the Kurdistan Democratic party of Iran (KDPI). Karim Tuzhali was reportedly executed on 24 January 2002 at Mahabad prison, western Iran. He had been in detention for three years, allegedly in Orumieh prison, West Azerbaijan province. He had reportedly been tortured while in detention and there was apparently a delay in releasing his body to his family.
• In other cases, 50-year-old Khaled Shoghi, who was forcibly returned from Turkey and arrested in 1997, was tortured in Iran; Kheder Viesi, another returned asylum seeker, was sentenced to death in 1998 as well as Saleh Goudarzi, who was sentenced to death in 1999, and is detained in Sanandaj prison.
• One Iranian asylum seeker Esmail Usefi was killed two weeks after his deportation to Iran. Norwegian Refugee Councils in its pres release reported that Esmail Usefi was deported to Iran in 13 February 2004 and his body with broken head was discovered on 28 February 2004.
• An Iranian woman whose asylum request (Hale Sahba) was rejected by Canada was expelled from the country in December 2004. She was arrested by Iran’s security forces as she entered Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport,
IFIR considers the forcible return of Iranian asylum seekers to be a violation of the principle of non-refoulement. This principle prohibits the forcible return of a person to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened. It is a principle of customary international law, which binds all states. Morocco is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals immediately:
To the Netherlands interior ministry:
- Calling on them to immediately recognize Ms. Horel-Ein Ghanevatie as a refugee;
- Stressing that the forcible return of any person to a country where they are at risk of torture or ill-treatment is a violation of the principle of non-refoulement;
To the UNHCR in Netherlands:
- Calling on them to intervene to secure the release of Ms. Horel-Ein Ghanevatie and to uphold their duty to protect those to whom they have granted refugee status.
- Urge them to afford Ms. Horel-Ein Ghanevatie protection and grant her recognition as a refugee.
Please send your letters to the UNHCR Netherlands office as well as the UNHCR office in Netherlands. Please remember to send a copy of your letters to our organization as well. A sample letter is provided for your convenience.
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It May Concern:
I / My Organization am / are writing to express my strongest concern over the fate of Ms. Horel-Ein Ghanevatie who is in Netherlands perison and is in danger of deportation to Iran.
I / My Organization urge(s) the Netherlands government to immediately grant her refugee status and protection and cancel all her deportation orders. I also urge the UNHCR to grant her refugee recognition. The International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) demands that Ms. Hour-olein Ghanevati be granted refugee status.
I am awaiting your immediate intervention in this life-threatening situation. Needless to say, the Netherlands government and UNHCR in Netherlands will be held accountable for Ms. I Houri-olein Ghanevati and her child’s lives and freedom.
Signed
Abdollah Asadi
Secretary of Interational federation of Iranian Refugees.
CC: abe.asadi@glocalnet.net
Sunday, December 13, 2009
2009 CEMB AGM Notice
Members are advised that the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain is holding its second Annual General Meeting on Sunday 13 December 2009 from 14:00-16:00 hours in London. The AGM is only open to members.
Members are requested to RSVP their attendance by 1 December 2009 and arrive no later than 13:45 hours.
Nomination of Board of Trustees and Motions
Those wishing to submit motions for the meeting, or nominations for Board of Trustee members, should do so in writing. A proposer and seconder are required for both nominations and motions, which must reach the CEMB by 1 December 2009. This date is necessary to enable preparation of the formal notices of the AGM that will be sent out in advance of the meeting.
The Board of Trustees will be elected at the AGM. Nominations of any member must be signed by a proposer and a seconder and must be signed by the person nominated to indicate that they are willing to stand for the Board. All those nominated will provide a statement of the skills they have to offer, their aims for the CEMB, and an indication of the extent to which they are prepared to undertake work as well as attending monthly Trustee meetings held on a weekday evening in London.
Nominations and motions should be sent by email to exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com or via post to CEMB, BM Box 1919, London WC1N 3XX and arrive no later than 1 December 2009. The names of nominees, proposers and seconders should be written in block capitals, with clearly legible email addresses.
The CEMB’s annual report and financial report will be made available to members at the AGM.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Best wishes
Maryam
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
BM Box 1919
London WC1N 3XX, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 7719166731
www.ex-muslim.org.uk
Members are requested to RSVP their attendance by 1 December 2009 and arrive no later than 13:45 hours.
Nomination of Board of Trustees and Motions
Those wishing to submit motions for the meeting, or nominations for Board of Trustee members, should do so in writing. A proposer and seconder are required for both nominations and motions, which must reach the CEMB by 1 December 2009. This date is necessary to enable preparation of the formal notices of the AGM that will be sent out in advance of the meeting.
The Board of Trustees will be elected at the AGM. Nominations of any member must be signed by a proposer and a seconder and must be signed by the person nominated to indicate that they are willing to stand for the Board. All those nominated will provide a statement of the skills they have to offer, their aims for the CEMB, and an indication of the extent to which they are prepared to undertake work as well as attending monthly Trustee meetings held on a weekday evening in London.
Nominations and motions should be sent by email to exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com or via post to CEMB, BM Box 1919, London WC1N 3XX and arrive no later than 1 December 2009. The names of nominees, proposers and seconders should be written in block capitals, with clearly legible email addresses.
The CEMB’s annual report and financial report will be made available to members at the AGM.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Best wishes
Maryam
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
BM Box 1919
London WC1N 3XX, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 7719166731
www.ex-muslim.org.uk
Friday, December 11, 2009
Interview on Dragon's Eye programme on BBC TV Wales
Maryam Namazie was interviewed on the Dragon's Eye programme on BBC TV Wales on a new Sharia court being established there next month. You can hear last night's programme here. The bit on Sharia starts at 12:00 and ends at 23:58.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
One Law for All a year old today
One Law for All is a year old today
One Law for All Campaign was established a year ago on December 10, 2008 to mark International Human Rights Day.
A year on, it has mobilised considerable support in opposition to Sharia and religious laws and in defence of secularism and universal rights. With nearly 21,000 individuals and groups having signed up to our petition calling for a ban on religious councils and tribunals in Britain, the Campaign has given many the space to challenge religious law from a human rights perspective and to make links and show real solidarity with people living under Islamic rule everywhere.
Some of the Campaign’s achievements over the past year include:
* Providing legal advice, information and a free helpline
* Organising a successful rally and public meeting on Sharia Law, Sexual Apartheid and Women's Rights on March 7, 2009
* Launching the International Coalition for Women’s Rights against Sharia law in April 2009 * Organising a successful rally on November 21, 2009 in London with acts of solidarity taking place in 23 countries worldwide
* Coordinating an art competition against Sharia and religious laws
* Speaking in cities across Britain and the world to mobilise support for the campaign and raise awareness, including in Canada where Sharia courts in Ontario province were pushed back
* Co-founding with others the International Bureau for Laicite (secularism) on December 9, 2009…
But much more needs to be done to stop religious laws. In the upcoming year, we plan to:
* Conduct a survey of women who have been to Sharia councils or tribunals
* Hold a March 8, 2010 seminar to bring together campaigners, lawyers, experts, and politicians to discuss ways in which Sharia courts can be prohibited in Britain. The seminar will make recommendations and lay out the legislative and legal avenues available to help bring about equal rights for all
* Organise a gallery exhibition on the issue before Spring
* Hold a June 20, 2010 rally against Sharia and religious laws in central London
* Organise a concert in support of One Law for All in the Fall
* Coordinate a December 10, 2010 conference on Sharia Law and Apostasy
* Continue speaking out on the issue and more...
Yes, there is a huge battle ahead - what with another Sharia law court being set up in Wales next month and the rise of the implementation of Sharia law in other countries across the globe. But there is also much resistance taking place – from Iran, Iraq, to Afghanistan and Pakistan to right here in Britain.
And as you know, all this work costs money even if it is done by over twenty volunteers. And whilst Islamic organisations receive huge funds from Islamic states and also from Western governments in their attempts to appease the political Islamic movement, we must rely solely on the public to support us.
On our anniversary, we’d like to thank you for this support; we couldn’t have done it without you. But we’d also like to ask that you donate to One Law for All if you haven’t already done so this year. No amount is too small or for that matter too big. It all adds up and will help determine the society and world that we want to live in.
Thanks again
Warm wishes
Maryam
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
PS If you are in London and can make it, please don’t forget about our Fundraiser dinner on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 7:00pm at one of London’s finest gastro-pubs. We hope you will be able to join us to enjoy an excellent three-course dinner whilst supporting the One Law for All Campaign and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. The dinner’s keynote speaker will be AC Grayling, the renowned philosopher, author, writer, reviewer, and broadcaster. To purchase a ticket(s) for a three-course meal at £45.00 per person, you can either post a cheque made payable to One Law for All or CEMB to BM Box 2387, London WC1N 3XX or pay via Paypal or Worldpay on those websites. Once payment has been received, we will send you your ticket(s), along with details of the venue and a menu to choose from.
One Law for All Campaign was established a year ago on December 10, 2008 to mark International Human Rights Day.
A year on, it has mobilised considerable support in opposition to Sharia and religious laws and in defence of secularism and universal rights. With nearly 21,000 individuals and groups having signed up to our petition calling for a ban on religious councils and tribunals in Britain, the Campaign has given many the space to challenge religious law from a human rights perspective and to make links and show real solidarity with people living under Islamic rule everywhere.
Some of the Campaign’s achievements over the past year include:
* Providing legal advice, information and a free helpline
* Organising a successful rally and public meeting on Sharia Law, Sexual Apartheid and Women's Rights on March 7, 2009
* Launching the International Coalition for Women’s Rights against Sharia law in April 2009 * Organising a successful rally on November 21, 2009 in London with acts of solidarity taking place in 23 countries worldwide
* Coordinating an art competition against Sharia and religious laws
* Speaking in cities across Britain and the world to mobilise support for the campaign and raise awareness, including in Canada where Sharia courts in Ontario province were pushed back
* Co-founding with others the International Bureau for Laicite (secularism) on December 9, 2009…
But much more needs to be done to stop religious laws. In the upcoming year, we plan to:
* Conduct a survey of women who have been to Sharia councils or tribunals
* Hold a March 8, 2010 seminar to bring together campaigners, lawyers, experts, and politicians to discuss ways in which Sharia courts can be prohibited in Britain. The seminar will make recommendations and lay out the legislative and legal avenues available to help bring about equal rights for all
* Organise a gallery exhibition on the issue before Spring
* Hold a June 20, 2010 rally against Sharia and religious laws in central London
* Organise a concert in support of One Law for All in the Fall
* Coordinate a December 10, 2010 conference on Sharia Law and Apostasy
* Continue speaking out on the issue and more...
Yes, there is a huge battle ahead - what with another Sharia law court being set up in Wales next month and the rise of the implementation of Sharia law in other countries across the globe. But there is also much resistance taking place – from Iran, Iraq, to Afghanistan and Pakistan to right here in Britain.
And as you know, all this work costs money even if it is done by over twenty volunteers. And whilst Islamic organisations receive huge funds from Islamic states and also from Western governments in their attempts to appease the political Islamic movement, we must rely solely on the public to support us.
On our anniversary, we’d like to thank you for this support; we couldn’t have done it without you. But we’d also like to ask that you donate to One Law for All if you haven’t already done so this year. No amount is too small or for that matter too big. It all adds up and will help determine the society and world that we want to live in.
Thanks again
Warm wishes
Maryam
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
PS If you are in London and can make it, please don’t forget about our Fundraiser dinner on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 7:00pm at one of London’s finest gastro-pubs. We hope you will be able to join us to enjoy an excellent three-course dinner whilst supporting the One Law for All Campaign and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. The dinner’s keynote speaker will be AC Grayling, the renowned philosopher, author, writer, reviewer, and broadcaster. To purchase a ticket(s) for a three-course meal at £45.00 per person, you can either post a cheque made payable to One Law for All or CEMB to BM Box 2387, London WC1N 3XX or pay via Paypal or Worldpay on those websites. Once payment has been received, we will send you your ticket(s), along with details of the venue and a menu to choose from.
Manifesto of the Iranian Revolution
The revolution that has started since June 2009 is the outburst of the repressed anger of the people against the criminal Islamic regime of Iran. This is a revolution for liberation from a corrupt system, for smashing a machine of murder, plunder, ignorance and lies which has been wrecking the lives of the people for thirty years. This revolution will not stop until it has crushed the entire inhuman system in power.
But this revolution is not just about the liberation of the people of Iran from the Islamic nightmare. It is not even just a source of hope and inspiration for the people in Islam-stricken regions. This revolution speaks from the heart of the people of the world. Fundamentally, it is a revolution against a dark period identified by the offensive of the New Right and the New World Order; September 11 and the rise of political Islam; and the War on Terror and conflagration of the world in the war of terrorists. A period which by the metamorphosis of the human being through religion, ethnicity and nationality, by defining the relations amongst members of humankind as the Clash of Civilisations, and by denying the universal rights of the human being by the notion of Cultural Relativism has in fact imposed a Postmodern Middle Ages on humanity. The Iranian revolution is in fact the voice of the Third Camp against this regression of the bourgeoisie of our age. It is a voice that shouts “Freedom, Equality, Human Identity”. It is for this reason that songs have been written for this revolution from around the world, and Neda has become a hero of the people of the world.
The Iranian revolution is, first and foremost, against religious and Islamic rule. It is deeply secular and opposed to the rule of ignorance, superstition and the clergy. In this respect it is pursuing, in a radical way, the unfinished, or forgotten, tasks of the French Revolution. With the victory of this revolution, not only will religion become completely separate from the state and the educational system, but any privilege, law and tradition giving the religious apparatus the right to interfere in social life will also be abolished. Religion will be pushed to the sphere of voluntary choice and private beliefs of adults. Official religion will be abolished, and the hold of religion on society and social affairs will be ended. Thus, for the first time, genuine freedom to have or not to have a religion will be established. The Iranian revolution has already, in a practical way, delivered its severe censure on the appeasement of political Islam by European and Western governments and the shameless reversal on secularism. The anti-religious revolution in Iran is the beginning of a new Renaissance in human history.
The present revolution in Iran is a “women’s revolution”, not only because it is immediately against sexual apartheid and a misogynist government, and not only because women and girls are at its forefront in fervent demonstrations and street battles, but also because the maxim “women’s freedom is a measure of society’s freedom” is increasingly etched in the consciousness of the masses of the people. The unconditional equality of women is the inviolable decree of the present revolution. This revolution is another step forward in the efforts of modern humanity for liberation from vile gender slavery. From the October 1917 Russian revolution to the women’s liberation movement in the West; from the women’s demonstrations in Iran against the veil in March 1979 to thirty years of women’s resistance and protest against Islamic veil, discrimination and humiliation – these make up the backbone and inspiration of the present revolution in Iran. The victory of the present revolution will not only have a phenomenal impact on the status and struggle of women in Islam-stricken countries, but will also advance the women’s liberation movement in the world as a whole.
The revolution in Iran is about freedom. The realisation of the most radical and human definition of individual, civil, cultural and political freedom is the immediate task of the ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’ generation which has risen up in revolt. It does not accept any restriction on freedom of expression, assembly, strike and organisation or other political freedoms. It does not recognise any boundaries for the freedom to criticise “sanctities”. It does not accept any censorship on culture, art, literature and human creative activity. It is against any interference of the state or any official authority in the private lives - including in the sexual relations and preferences - of members of society. Not only should political prisoners be freed, but the very notion of political prisoner should be abolished. This is a revolution against the death penalty and all brutal or Islamic punishments. It is not only against Kahrizak, but also against Guantanamo and its corresponding political culture - from shock therapy to rape and torture, which have been elevated to official tools of the state. This is a revolution not only for cultural liberation from Islam, dictatorship and any backwardness and recourse to “one’s own culture”, but stands for a global, human and modern culture. In this sense, the nearest counterpart of the Iranian revolution are the 1960s’ and 70s’ civil rights movements in the USA and Western Europe, with the difference that this revolution along with Marx goes further than “civil society”, and aims for a “human society” or “social humanity”.
This revolution is the powerful response of a poverty-stricken society to the ruling parasites. It is a revolution for abolishing poverty, unemployment and the appalling gulf between the life of a billionaire minority and that of the great mass of deprived people living under the poverty line. This is a revolution not only against non-payment of wages of millions of workers, but in essence against the very sale and purchase of human creative power and the rule of blind and brutal market laws on people’s lives. This is a revolution for putting an end to drug addiction, prostitution, the plight of working street children, homelessness, depression, suicide and all that is the result of the poverty running amok in Iranian society. This is a revolution for “livelihood and dignity”, for “bread and roses too”.
Thus the present revolution in Iran is about the liberation of the human being in all political, social, intellectual, cultural and economic dimensions. This is a revolution against all false identities for the human being, be it religious, ethnic or national, and ultimately for putting an end to the division of people into classes. This is a revolution for human dignity, for happiness, freedom, welfare and equality for all in the enjoyment of the material and intellectual riches of social life. It is indeed a revolution for reclaiming the will of the human being, in both individual and social capacities. In one word, as we said from day one, this is “a human revolution for a human rule”. Thus the revolution in Iran links up with great efforts in history – from Spartacus to the Jacobins of the French Revolution, from the Paris Communards to workers of Petrograd, from the councils of the 1979 revolution in Iran to the anti-capitalist movement at the start of the third millennium, stretching from Seattle to Rome. The Iranian revolution is fundamentally against modern wage slavery, whose time has long been up, and which for its survival has needed to resort to religion, superstition, torture, prison, terror, and the nuclear bomb. This slogan of Tehran’s students expresses the foundations of the Iranian revolution: Socialism or barbarism!
The triumph of the revolution of the people of Iran over the Islamic Republic will open up a new chapter in the world and will be a new stepping stone for putting an end to class history and for the start of genuine human history. The Seventh Congress of the Worker-communist Party of Iran calls on the people of the world for a more enthusiastic and resolute support of the Iranian revolution and people. The Congress sends its greetings to women, youth and workers in Iran and calls on them to join the ranks of the Party for the victory of this revolution and realisation of this Manifesto.
Adopted unanimously by the Seventh Congress of the Worker-communist Party of Iran, 5-6 December 2009.
But this revolution is not just about the liberation of the people of Iran from the Islamic nightmare. It is not even just a source of hope and inspiration for the people in Islam-stricken regions. This revolution speaks from the heart of the people of the world. Fundamentally, it is a revolution against a dark period identified by the offensive of the New Right and the New World Order; September 11 and the rise of political Islam; and the War on Terror and conflagration of the world in the war of terrorists. A period which by the metamorphosis of the human being through religion, ethnicity and nationality, by defining the relations amongst members of humankind as the Clash of Civilisations, and by denying the universal rights of the human being by the notion of Cultural Relativism has in fact imposed a Postmodern Middle Ages on humanity. The Iranian revolution is in fact the voice of the Third Camp against this regression of the bourgeoisie of our age. It is a voice that shouts “Freedom, Equality, Human Identity”. It is for this reason that songs have been written for this revolution from around the world, and Neda has become a hero of the people of the world.
The Iranian revolution is, first and foremost, against religious and Islamic rule. It is deeply secular and opposed to the rule of ignorance, superstition and the clergy. In this respect it is pursuing, in a radical way, the unfinished, or forgotten, tasks of the French Revolution. With the victory of this revolution, not only will religion become completely separate from the state and the educational system, but any privilege, law and tradition giving the religious apparatus the right to interfere in social life will also be abolished. Religion will be pushed to the sphere of voluntary choice and private beliefs of adults. Official religion will be abolished, and the hold of religion on society and social affairs will be ended. Thus, for the first time, genuine freedom to have or not to have a religion will be established. The Iranian revolution has already, in a practical way, delivered its severe censure on the appeasement of political Islam by European and Western governments and the shameless reversal on secularism. The anti-religious revolution in Iran is the beginning of a new Renaissance in human history.
The present revolution in Iran is a “women’s revolution”, not only because it is immediately against sexual apartheid and a misogynist government, and not only because women and girls are at its forefront in fervent demonstrations and street battles, but also because the maxim “women’s freedom is a measure of society’s freedom” is increasingly etched in the consciousness of the masses of the people. The unconditional equality of women is the inviolable decree of the present revolution. This revolution is another step forward in the efforts of modern humanity for liberation from vile gender slavery. From the October 1917 Russian revolution to the women’s liberation movement in the West; from the women’s demonstrations in Iran against the veil in March 1979 to thirty years of women’s resistance and protest against Islamic veil, discrimination and humiliation – these make up the backbone and inspiration of the present revolution in Iran. The victory of the present revolution will not only have a phenomenal impact on the status and struggle of women in Islam-stricken countries, but will also advance the women’s liberation movement in the world as a whole.
The revolution in Iran is about freedom. The realisation of the most radical and human definition of individual, civil, cultural and political freedom is the immediate task of the ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’ generation which has risen up in revolt. It does not accept any restriction on freedom of expression, assembly, strike and organisation or other political freedoms. It does not recognise any boundaries for the freedom to criticise “sanctities”. It does not accept any censorship on culture, art, literature and human creative activity. It is against any interference of the state or any official authority in the private lives - including in the sexual relations and preferences - of members of society. Not only should political prisoners be freed, but the very notion of political prisoner should be abolished. This is a revolution against the death penalty and all brutal or Islamic punishments. It is not only against Kahrizak, but also against Guantanamo and its corresponding political culture - from shock therapy to rape and torture, which have been elevated to official tools of the state. This is a revolution not only for cultural liberation from Islam, dictatorship and any backwardness and recourse to “one’s own culture”, but stands for a global, human and modern culture. In this sense, the nearest counterpart of the Iranian revolution are the 1960s’ and 70s’ civil rights movements in the USA and Western Europe, with the difference that this revolution along with Marx goes further than “civil society”, and aims for a “human society” or “social humanity”.
This revolution is the powerful response of a poverty-stricken society to the ruling parasites. It is a revolution for abolishing poverty, unemployment and the appalling gulf between the life of a billionaire minority and that of the great mass of deprived people living under the poverty line. This is a revolution not only against non-payment of wages of millions of workers, but in essence against the very sale and purchase of human creative power and the rule of blind and brutal market laws on people’s lives. This is a revolution for putting an end to drug addiction, prostitution, the plight of working street children, homelessness, depression, suicide and all that is the result of the poverty running amok in Iranian society. This is a revolution for “livelihood and dignity”, for “bread and roses too”.
Thus the present revolution in Iran is about the liberation of the human being in all political, social, intellectual, cultural and economic dimensions. This is a revolution against all false identities for the human being, be it religious, ethnic or national, and ultimately for putting an end to the division of people into classes. This is a revolution for human dignity, for happiness, freedom, welfare and equality for all in the enjoyment of the material and intellectual riches of social life. It is indeed a revolution for reclaiming the will of the human being, in both individual and social capacities. In one word, as we said from day one, this is “a human revolution for a human rule”. Thus the revolution in Iran links up with great efforts in history – from Spartacus to the Jacobins of the French Revolution, from the Paris Communards to workers of Petrograd, from the councils of the 1979 revolution in Iran to the anti-capitalist movement at the start of the third millennium, stretching from Seattle to Rome. The Iranian revolution is fundamentally against modern wage slavery, whose time has long been up, and which for its survival has needed to resort to religion, superstition, torture, prison, terror, and the nuclear bomb. This slogan of Tehran’s students expresses the foundations of the Iranian revolution: Socialism or barbarism!
The triumph of the revolution of the people of Iran over the Islamic Republic will open up a new chapter in the world and will be a new stepping stone for putting an end to class history and for the start of genuine human history. The Seventh Congress of the Worker-communist Party of Iran calls on the people of the world for a more enthusiastic and resolute support of the Iranian revolution and people. The Congress sends its greetings to women, youth and workers in Iran and calls on them to join the ranks of the Party for the victory of this revolution and realisation of this Manifesto.
Adopted unanimously by the Seventh Congress of the Worker-communist Party of Iran, 5-6 December 2009.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
The Formation of an International Bureau for Laicite* Announced
Press Release
For Immediate Release
9 December 2009
A wide number of non governmental organizations and individuals from across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas have signed a common public statement affirming the nefarious role of fundamentalist politics and the need to counter it internationally.
This charter highlights:
– The flawed ideological bogey of clash of civilizations, the role of public policies leading to greater inequality, and the impact of religious fundamentalisms and right wing identity politics in dividing people locally, nationally and internationally.
– Fundamentalist movements benefit from - A retreat of the state from the social domain that leaves the terrain open to the religious-political outfits to flourish. - Public support from certain groups on the left, that consider fundamentalists as allies in the name of fighting imperialism.
In this overall backdrop the signatories propose the formation of an international initiative called International Bureau for Laicite to act as a facilitating body to network, support and amplify the struggles for secularism.
The charter of International Bureau for Laicite has been released in English, French and Spanish on a day that marks the 104th anniversary of the legislation separating state and religion in France.
The full text of the charter is below or available for public consultation and is open for signatures at the newly created website of International Bureau for Laicite.
Considering that:- The so-called theory of ‘clash of civilisations’ between a ‘Christian West’ on the one hand, and a ‘Muslim Orient’ on the other, is gaining ground, in total disregard of all people the world over, who have been fighting in favour of a political model founded on principles of secularism,
- In the name of defending the ‘right to difference’, numerous states are legitimizing differences of rights between citizens depending on their faith, thereby fueling communalisms,
- With the help of religions, governments try to draw people into warlike confrontations
- In addition to fighting against existing disparities between men and women, women have to unceasingly defend their hard won rights, notably equality in the realm of social and professional rights and bodily rights,
- That, in many countries, the rise of different fundamentalisms has come to increase the subordination of women,
- Despite a movement towards secularisation and the decline of religions, globalisation of neoliberal policies (favoured by the Washington consensus) that emerged in the 80’s, stimulated the march towards privatisation and commoditisation of all human activities, and exacerbated inward looking communalism (the disengagement of the state necessitated the recourse to traditional forms of solidarity, substituting national solidarity with the principle of charity),
- The alliance that a communalized Left does not hesitate to make with religious organisations, in the name of fighting ‘western imperialism’, is damaging, as is the neoliberal disinvestment by the State from the social sphere that has allowed religious organisations to occupy that space
-The current economic crisis has accentuated inequalities and poverty,
- However, there has been a convergence of secularist, feminist and social struggles, everywhere in the world;
The organisations and persons listed below have come together to set up the International Bureau for Laïcite, based on the present resolution, in order to promote secularism internationally.
1. We affirm our commitment to secularism. The principle of secularism, notably the strict separation of State and religion, guarantees the non interference of religion in the sphere of state authority; as well as a real independence of religious and faith based organisations of civil society vis-à-vis the state. Secularism guarantees to citizens the absolute freedom of conscience: the right to believe, the right to disbelieve, the right to change faith, as well as the right to freedom of expression. Consequently, the right to criticize religions is not to be put into question and it takes precedence above all moves to institute ‘defamation of religions and their prophets’ as a crime.
2. We affirm our commitment to the principle of equality and the universality of rights. We believe in a republican conception of citizenship, and we reject all systems which, in the name of particularisms, segment the body politic, either by privileging one category of citizens or by excluding it. Therefore we intend to fight against all forms of discriminations, notably those faced by women and the minorities.
3. We refuse the globalized predatory and destructive neoliberal policies which accentuate pauperisation, whose first victims are women and children; state disengagement fosters the retreat of national solidarity in favour of traditional solidarities of ‘communal’ type. In wake of neoliberalism, we call for the internationalisation of struggles.
On the 9th of December 2009**, we call on organisations and individuals who identify with the principles of this statement to support and sign it, and join us.
*After consultation, we finally resolve to use the French concept/word ‘Laicite’ in the name of our platform. The reason for it is that the word ’secularism’ in English conveys the notion of equal tolerance of the state vis-à-vis all religions, rather than the notion of separation between ‘Churches’/religions and the state as well as the total disinvestment of the state regarding religions, which is embedded into the French concept of laicite. Rare scholars have of late started to use the neologism ‘Laicity’, but we feel that it is not known to activists and to public at large.
** On the 9th of December 1905, France voted the Law of Separation of Churches and State
The founders of the BLI
Coalition for a Secular State, Serbia
Collectif citoyen pour l’égalité et la laïcité (CCIEL), Montréal
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
Development Alternatives with Women for A New Era (DAWN), international network
Equal Rights Now – Organisation against Women’s Discrimination in Iran
Iran Solidarity
Iranian Secular Society
MAREA, feminist journal, Genova, Italy
Parti pour la Laïcité et la Démocratie (ex MDSL), Algérie
Protagoras, Croatia
One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain
Organization for Women’s Liberation (OWL), Iran
Secularism Is A Women’s Issue (SIAWI), international network
Union des Familles Laïques (UFAL), France
Women’s Initiative for Citizenship and Universal Rights (WICUR) international network
Women in Black - Belgrade (WIB), Serbia
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), international network
Zarizana Abul Aziz, lawyer, human rights activist, Malaysia
Samia Allalou, journaliste, Algérie/France
Hakim Arabdiou, militant laïque, France
Soheib Bencheikh, théologien, spécialiste des religions et de la laicité, ancien mufti de Marseille, France
Djemila Benhabib, auteure de « Ma vie à contre-Coran », récipiendaire du Prix des écrivains francophones d’Amérique
Codou Bop, journaliste, Dakar, Sénégal
Caroline Brancher, co-responsable du secteur féminisme et laïcité de l’UFAL, Paris
Ariane Brunet, co-fondatrice de Urgent Action Fund , Montréal
Sonia Correa, co-coordinator of Sexuality Policy Watch and Research Associate at ABIA (Brazilian Interdisciplinary Association for AIDS (Brazil)), Rio De Janeiro.
Yvonne Deutsch, feminist peace activist, Jerusalem
Lalia Ducos, présidente de WICUR, Paris-Alger
Alda Facio, jurist and feminist human rights activist, part of the Campaign for Debaptisation, Costa Rica
Gigi Franscisco, coordinator of the DAWN international network, Manila, The Philippines
Pierre Galand, président du Centre d’action laïque (CAL), Belgique
Nadia Geerts, initiatrice du R.A.P.P.E.L. (le-rappel.be), Belgique
Laura Guidetti, President and co-founder of MAREA, Genova, Italy
Marieme Helie Lucas, fondatrice du WLUML et coordinatrice de SIAWI, Algérie/France
Hameeda Hossein, co-chair of South Asians for Human Rights and Chairperson of Ain o Salish Kendra, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ayesha Imam, Sociologist, human rights activists, Nigeria
Harsh Kapoor, founder of South Asia Citizens Web (sacw.net), France/Inde
Sultana Kamal, lawyer and human rights activist, Executive Director of Ain O’Salish Kendra, Dhakha, Bangladesh,
Cherifa Kheddar, présidente de l’association ” Djazairouna” des Familles Victimes du Terrorisme Islamiste, Algérie
Catherine Kintzler, philosophe de la laïcité, Paris, France
Monica Lanfranco, journalist, co-founder of MAREA, Genova, Italy
Azar Majedi, president of OWL, Iran/U.K
Maryam Namazie, Campaigner, Iran/U.K
Henri Pena Ruiz, philosophe de la laïcité, France
Fariborz Pooya, Iranian Secular Society, Iran/U.K
Venita Popovic, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mary Jane Real, lawyer and human rights activist, Manilla, The Philippines
Rhoda Reddock, feminist historian, Professor at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
Nina Sankari, Présidente de l’Initiative Féministe Européenne (IFE), Pologne
Aisha Shaheed, historian and women’s rights activist,Canada/Pakistan/UK
Mohamed Sifaoui, journaliste, Algérie/France
Fatou Sow, sociologue au CNRS, Dakar, Sénégal
Gila Svirsky, Women In Black, Jerusalem
Lino Veljak, Professor of philosophy, University of Zagreb, founder of PROTAGORAS, Croatia
Vivienne Wee, anthropologist and women’s rights advocate, Singapore and Hong Kong, China
Stasa Zajovic, founder of WIB-Belgrade, coordinator of the Coalition for a Secular State, Serbia
For Immediate Release
9 December 2009
A wide number of non governmental organizations and individuals from across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas have signed a common public statement affirming the nefarious role of fundamentalist politics and the need to counter it internationally.
This charter highlights:
– The flawed ideological bogey of clash of civilizations, the role of public policies leading to greater inequality, and the impact of religious fundamentalisms and right wing identity politics in dividing people locally, nationally and internationally.
– Fundamentalist movements benefit from - A retreat of the state from the social domain that leaves the terrain open to the religious-political outfits to flourish. - Public support from certain groups on the left, that consider fundamentalists as allies in the name of fighting imperialism.
In this overall backdrop the signatories propose the formation of an international initiative called International Bureau for Laicite to act as a facilitating body to network, support and amplify the struggles for secularism.
The charter of International Bureau for Laicite has been released in English, French and Spanish on a day that marks the 104th anniversary of the legislation separating state and religion in France.
The full text of the charter is below or available for public consultation and is open for signatures at the newly created website of International Bureau for Laicite.
Considering that:- The so-called theory of ‘clash of civilisations’ between a ‘Christian West’ on the one hand, and a ‘Muslim Orient’ on the other, is gaining ground, in total disregard of all people the world over, who have been fighting in favour of a political model founded on principles of secularism,
- In the name of defending the ‘right to difference’, numerous states are legitimizing differences of rights between citizens depending on their faith, thereby fueling communalisms,
- With the help of religions, governments try to draw people into warlike confrontations
- In addition to fighting against existing disparities between men and women, women have to unceasingly defend their hard won rights, notably equality in the realm of social and professional rights and bodily rights,
- That, in many countries, the rise of different fundamentalisms has come to increase the subordination of women,
- Despite a movement towards secularisation and the decline of religions, globalisation of neoliberal policies (favoured by the Washington consensus) that emerged in the 80’s, stimulated the march towards privatisation and commoditisation of all human activities, and exacerbated inward looking communalism (the disengagement of the state necessitated the recourse to traditional forms of solidarity, substituting national solidarity with the principle of charity),
- The alliance that a communalized Left does not hesitate to make with religious organisations, in the name of fighting ‘western imperialism’, is damaging, as is the neoliberal disinvestment by the State from the social sphere that has allowed religious organisations to occupy that space
-The current economic crisis has accentuated inequalities and poverty,
- However, there has been a convergence of secularist, feminist and social struggles, everywhere in the world;
The organisations and persons listed below have come together to set up the International Bureau for Laïcite, based on the present resolution, in order to promote secularism internationally.
1. We affirm our commitment to secularism. The principle of secularism, notably the strict separation of State and religion, guarantees the non interference of religion in the sphere of state authority; as well as a real independence of religious and faith based organisations of civil society vis-à-vis the state. Secularism guarantees to citizens the absolute freedom of conscience: the right to believe, the right to disbelieve, the right to change faith, as well as the right to freedom of expression. Consequently, the right to criticize religions is not to be put into question and it takes precedence above all moves to institute ‘defamation of religions and their prophets’ as a crime.
2. We affirm our commitment to the principle of equality and the universality of rights. We believe in a republican conception of citizenship, and we reject all systems which, in the name of particularisms, segment the body politic, either by privileging one category of citizens or by excluding it. Therefore we intend to fight against all forms of discriminations, notably those faced by women and the minorities.
3. We refuse the globalized predatory and destructive neoliberal policies which accentuate pauperisation, whose first victims are women and children; state disengagement fosters the retreat of national solidarity in favour of traditional solidarities of ‘communal’ type. In wake of neoliberalism, we call for the internationalisation of struggles.
On the 9th of December 2009**, we call on organisations and individuals who identify with the principles of this statement to support and sign it, and join us.
*After consultation, we finally resolve to use the French concept/word ‘Laicite’ in the name of our platform. The reason for it is that the word ’secularism’ in English conveys the notion of equal tolerance of the state vis-à-vis all religions, rather than the notion of separation between ‘Churches’/religions and the state as well as the total disinvestment of the state regarding religions, which is embedded into the French concept of laicite. Rare scholars have of late started to use the neologism ‘Laicity’, but we feel that it is not known to activists and to public at large.
** On the 9th of December 1905, France voted the Law of Separation of Churches and State
The founders of the BLI
Coalition for a Secular State, Serbia
Collectif citoyen pour l’égalité et la laïcité (CCIEL), Montréal
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
Development Alternatives with Women for A New Era (DAWN), international network
Equal Rights Now – Organisation against Women’s Discrimination in Iran
Iran Solidarity
Iranian Secular Society
MAREA, feminist journal, Genova, Italy
Parti pour la Laïcité et la Démocratie (ex MDSL), Algérie
Protagoras, Croatia
One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain
Organization for Women’s Liberation (OWL), Iran
Secularism Is A Women’s Issue (SIAWI), international network
Union des Familles Laïques (UFAL), France
Women’s Initiative for Citizenship and Universal Rights (WICUR) international network
Women in Black - Belgrade (WIB), Serbia
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), international network
Zarizana Abul Aziz, lawyer, human rights activist, Malaysia
Samia Allalou, journaliste, Algérie/France
Hakim Arabdiou, militant laïque, France
Soheib Bencheikh, théologien, spécialiste des religions et de la laicité, ancien mufti de Marseille, France
Djemila Benhabib, auteure de « Ma vie à contre-Coran », récipiendaire du Prix des écrivains francophones d’Amérique
Codou Bop, journaliste, Dakar, Sénégal
Caroline Brancher, co-responsable du secteur féminisme et laïcité de l’UFAL, Paris
Ariane Brunet, co-fondatrice de Urgent Action Fund , Montréal
Sonia Correa, co-coordinator of Sexuality Policy Watch and Research Associate at ABIA (Brazilian Interdisciplinary Association for AIDS (Brazil)), Rio De Janeiro.
Yvonne Deutsch, feminist peace activist, Jerusalem
Lalia Ducos, présidente de WICUR, Paris-Alger
Alda Facio, jurist and feminist human rights activist, part of the Campaign for Debaptisation, Costa Rica
Gigi Franscisco, coordinator of the DAWN international network, Manila, The Philippines
Pierre Galand, président du Centre d’action laïque (CAL), Belgique
Nadia Geerts, initiatrice du R.A.P.P.E.L. (le-rappel.be), Belgique
Laura Guidetti, President and co-founder of MAREA, Genova, Italy
Marieme Helie Lucas, fondatrice du WLUML et coordinatrice de SIAWI, Algérie/France
Hameeda Hossein, co-chair of South Asians for Human Rights and Chairperson of Ain o Salish Kendra, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ayesha Imam, Sociologist, human rights activists, Nigeria
Harsh Kapoor, founder of South Asia Citizens Web (sacw.net), France/Inde
Sultana Kamal, lawyer and human rights activist, Executive Director of Ain O’Salish Kendra, Dhakha, Bangladesh,
Cherifa Kheddar, présidente de l’association ” Djazairouna” des Familles Victimes du Terrorisme Islamiste, Algérie
Catherine Kintzler, philosophe de la laïcité, Paris, France
Monica Lanfranco, journalist, co-founder of MAREA, Genova, Italy
Azar Majedi, president of OWL, Iran/U.K
Maryam Namazie, Campaigner, Iran/U.K
Henri Pena Ruiz, philosophe de la laïcité, France
Fariborz Pooya, Iranian Secular Society, Iran/U.K
Venita Popovic, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mary Jane Real, lawyer and human rights activist, Manilla, The Philippines
Rhoda Reddock, feminist historian, Professor at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
Nina Sankari, Présidente de l’Initiative Féministe Européenne (IFE), Pologne
Aisha Shaheed, historian and women’s rights activist,Canada/Pakistan/UK
Mohamed Sifaoui, journaliste, Algérie/France
Fatou Sow, sociologue au CNRS, Dakar, Sénégal
Gila Svirsky, Women In Black, Jerusalem
Lino Veljak, Professor of philosophy, University of Zagreb, founder of PROTAGORAS, Croatia
Vivienne Wee, anthropologist and women’s rights advocate, Singapore and Hong Kong, China
Stasa Zajovic, founder of WIB-Belgrade, coordinator of the Coalition for a Secular State, Serbia
Friday, December 04, 2009
WPI's Congress
I will be at the Worker-communist Party of Iran's 7th Congress this weekend.
The congress is open to the public.
For more information on how to attend, contact:
k7.wpiran@gmail.com
0046(0)704227196
Here are some pictures from the Congress.
Here is video footage of the Congress.
The resolutions that were adopted. They are currently being translated into English.
The congress is open to the public.
For more information on how to attend, contact:
k7.wpiran@gmail.com
0046(0)704227196
Here are some pictures from the Congress.
Here is video footage of the Congress.
The resolutions that were adopted. They are currently being translated into English.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
No Sharia, No where, No way!
See a video put together by Patty Debonitas on the November 21 rally. It includes interviews with protestors:
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Join fundraiser dinner for One Law for All and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain on Thursday, January 28, 2010
Hello
As a follow up to our successful Nov 21 rally against Sharia law, we are organising a fundraiser dinner on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 7:00pm at one of London’s finest gastro-pubs. We hope you will be able to join us to enjoy an excellent three-course dinner whilst supporting the One Law for All Campaign and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain.
The dinner’s keynote speaker will be AC Grayling, the renowned philosopher, author, writer, reviewer, and broadcaster.
If you can’t come to the event but would like to and can support us, please send in a donation of £45 to cover the cost of a volunteer(s) to attend. We would also appreciate other donations however small.
If you have any questions about the dinner or would like to reserve tickets, please contact onelawforall@gmail.com. Given that space is limited, we would appreciate receiving payment as soon as possible and no later than January 1, 2010.
We look forward to seeing you at the event and hope this fundraiser and others like it will help us to raise much needed funds for the important work that lies ahead.
Thank you for your continued support.
Best wishes,
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
One Law for All and CEMB
Notes:
To purchase a ticket(s) at £45.00 per person, you can either post a cheque made payable to One Law for All or CEMB to BM Box 2387, London WC1N 3XX or pay via Paypal or Worldpay.
Please note that it is possible to reserve a table for a group.
Once payment has been received, we will send you your ticket(s), along with details of the venue and a menu to choose from.
As a follow up to our successful Nov 21 rally against Sharia law, we are organising a fundraiser dinner on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 7:00pm at one of London’s finest gastro-pubs. We hope you will be able to join us to enjoy an excellent three-course dinner whilst supporting the One Law for All Campaign and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain.
The dinner’s keynote speaker will be AC Grayling, the renowned philosopher, author, writer, reviewer, and broadcaster.
If you can’t come to the event but would like to and can support us, please send in a donation of £45 to cover the cost of a volunteer(s) to attend. We would also appreciate other donations however small.
If you have any questions about the dinner or would like to reserve tickets, please contact onelawforall@gmail.com. Given that space is limited, we would appreciate receiving payment as soon as possible and no later than January 1, 2010.
We look forward to seeing you at the event and hope this fundraiser and others like it will help us to raise much needed funds for the important work that lies ahead.
Thank you for your continued support.
Best wishes,
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
One Law for All and CEMB
Notes:
To purchase a ticket(s) at £45.00 per person, you can either post a cheque made payable to One Law for All or CEMB to BM Box 2387, London WC1N 3XX or pay via Paypal or Worldpay.
Please note that it is possible to reserve a table for a group.
Once payment has been received, we will send you your ticket(s), along with details of the venue and a menu to choose from.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Maryam will be speaking at Malmo, Sweden conference Friday
Maryam Namazie will be speaking at a conference entitled the Voice of the Voiceless in Malmo, Sweden on Friday 27 November. The conference is now sold-out.
Here is more information in Swedish:
En konferens om hedersvåld
”Rösten från röstlösa kvinnor”
Plats: Malmö folkets hus sal 5
Olof Palmes plats 1
Tid: 27 november, 2009
Kl: 8.00-16.00
Välkommen till en nyskapande konferens
Välkommen till en ny skapande konferens om hedersvåld
Den är nyskapande, den tar upp nya aspekter inom den hedersrelaterade våldfrågan. Vi kommer att behandla problematiken ifrån olika syn och inifrån fältet. Våra talare kommer från olika håll i Europa och kommer att utbyta erfarenheter och åsikter som kan resultera i en ny syn och nya åtgärder på hedersvåldsproblematik.
Konferensen arrangeras av Kommittén för Försvaret av Kvinnors rättigheter (KFKI_Malmö), med stöd av Brottsoffers myndighet,
KFKI- Stockholm och Equal Rights Now (ERN)-England
Avgift: 200 kr
Anmälan görs till: E-post: kfki.malmo@yahoo.se
Tfn: 040-611 61 09
Mob: 070-363 80 88
073-887 700 48
Here is more information in Swedish:
En konferens om hedersvåld
”Rösten från röstlösa kvinnor”
Plats: Malmö folkets hus sal 5
Olof Palmes plats 1
Tid: 27 november, 2009
Kl: 8.00-16.00
Välkommen till en nyskapande konferens
Välkommen till en ny skapande konferens om hedersvåld
Den är nyskapande, den tar upp nya aspekter inom den hedersrelaterade våldfrågan. Vi kommer att behandla problematiken ifrån olika syn och inifrån fältet. Våra talare kommer från olika håll i Europa och kommer att utbyta erfarenheter och åsikter som kan resultera i en ny syn och nya åtgärder på hedersvåldsproblematik.
Konferensen arrangeras av Kommittén för Försvaret av Kvinnors rättigheter (KFKI_Malmö), med stöd av Brottsoffers myndighet,
KFKI- Stockholm och Equal Rights Now (ERN)-England
Avgift: 200 kr
Anmälan görs till: E-post: kfki.malmo@yahoo.se
Tfn: 040-611 61 09
Mob: 070-363 80 88
073-887 700 48
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Maryam Namazie's opening and closing speeches at the Nov 21 rally
You can see the video footage of my opening and closing speeches at the November 21 rally here:
Visit the One Law for All website to see a full report and all the brilliant speeches and performances on the day.
Visit the One Law for All website to see a full report and all the brilliant speeches and performances on the day.
November 21 a successful day against Sharia and religious laws
Several hundred joined a rally in London’s Hyde Park organised by One Law for All to show their opposition to Sharia and religious-based laws in Britain and elsewhere and to demand universal rights and secularism.
At the rally, over 20 speakers and performers exposed the discriminatory and brutal nature of religious laws. They included Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s Asad Abbas; International Humanist and Ethical Union’s Roy Brown; Philosopher AC Grayling; Southall Black Sisters’ Rahila Gupta; MP Evan Harris; Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq’s Houzan Mahmoud; Lawyer Rony Miah; Campaigner Maryam Namazie; British Humanist Association’s Naomi Phillips; European Humanist Federation’s David Pollock; National Secular Society’s Terry Sanderson; Activist Muriel Seltman; Equal Rights Now’s Sohaila Sharifi; Organisation for the Defence of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq’s Issam Shukri; Iran Solidarity’s Bahar Milani; Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell; National Secular Society’s Keith Porteous Wood and the rally’s Master of Ceremonies, Iranian Secular Society’s Fariborz Pooya.
The rally heard from people with direct experiences of Sharia law, including Iranian-born activist Sohaila Sharifi and a Somali-born secularist who spoke of his cousin who had been forced to remain in a violent marriage by the sham courts here in Britain. He said: ‘I wanted to tell you my cousin’s story to highlight that whatever the pro-Sharia lobby say, we know that there are women out there being abused, and sadly all too-often too afraid to come forward. The only ‘choice’ my cousin was given, was either to be separated from her children or remain in a violent marriage. She chose to stay in the marriage for the sake of her children... I don’t think this is a ‘choice’ – how can it be?’
Maryam Namazie, the One Law for All Spokesperson, also gave several examples of the legal compulsion involved in the decisions of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunals and Sharia Councils, particularly with regards forced marriages, divorce and child custody. She went on to say that it was scandalous that countless women were relegated to kangaroo courts with lesser rights here in Britain and elsewhere.
Campaigner Peter Tatchell said: ‘Sharia law is a form of religious dogma and tyranny. It is homophobic, sexist and anti-democratic.’ Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society went on to say that: ‘Sharia law does not develop, it is fixed and immutable, but its interpretation is unpredictable, unregulated and subject to the whims and prejudices of individual practitioners.’
Many of the speakers spoke of the brutalities of Sharia in other countries. Issam Shukri from Iraq told the rally how Islamic militias linked to the cleric and MP Muqtada al-Sadr had executed dozens of women who they deemed to be improperly dressed because they were not fully covered head-to-toe in Iraq. Examples were also given of rights violations under Sharia in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, Somalia and elsewhere.
Activist Muriel Seltman condemned the cultural relativism that allows for religious laws to go unchallenged. She said: ‘What can be more racist than laying down different standards for different people in different societies? This is what is racist not the criticism of barbaric practices.’
Many speakers criticised the right of religion to special status to undermine fundamental human rights. David Pollock of the European Humanist Federation said: ‘Sharia courts seek to provide a parallel legal system... Arguments for Sharia law are based on the concept of group rights. And group rights are inherently hostile to human rights.’ MP Evan Harris condemned the government for giving privileged advisory status on policy and legislation to often unrepresentative faith leaders. Lawyer Rony Miah said: ‘Having separate systems of law for different communities are no different from separate faith schools; it will only lead to a fragmenting of communities - not cohesion.’
Rahila Gupta of Southall Black Sisters added: ‘accommodating alternative systems of justice is not about choice or tolerance in a pluralistic society; it is not about Muslim women's autonomy. These demands emerge from fundamentalist politics however they are dressed up.’
Roy Brown of the International Humanist and Ethical Union spoke about how Islamic states are behind the demand for more religious laws and the banning of any criticism of Islam. He said: Sharia law [in Britain] is but a small part of a worldwide campaign to replace international law with Islamic law… The acceptance of Sharia law for the settlement of family disputes in Britain is just one small part of a global problem.’
Maryam Namazie said that Sharia courts and councils were extensions of the political Islamic movement – not the demand of Muslims or those labelled as such – and resistance to it was global as well. She told the crowd: ‘Sharia adversely affects the rights, lives and freedoms of countless human beings across the world. Opposing Sharia law is a crucial step in defending universal equal rights and secularism, and showing real solidarity with people living under and resisting Sharia.’ Fariborz Pooya added that ‘people living under Sharia law are the first victims and at the same time the first line of resistance against it and must be defended.’
Writer AC Grayling went on to say: ‘The principle of one law for all, with everyone equal before the law, is a vital one for a genuine democracy. The One Law For All campaign is doing an urgently needed job of protecting those who, hidden behind the veil of Sharia or other religious 'courts', risk injustice, abuse, and deprivation of rights.’
During the rally, Bahar Milani and Richard Francis of Iran Solidarity led an act against child executions. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the only state that continues to execute minors. At least 130 juveniles are on death row in Iran, including for homosexuality, apostasy, sex outside of marriage and involvement in school or street fights that have resulted in murder.
Throughout the event, there were performances from poets AK47, Lilith and Christine from the Anti-Injustice Movement and Selina Jus1jam from Yorkshire as well as musician Fari B and singer/songwriter David Fisher.
On the day, many others took part in simultaneous acts of solidarity with the rally and its demands in 23 countries across the globe, namely Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. In Serbia and Montenegro, Women in Black held a number of film events in support of women’s rights in Afghanistan. In Baghdad, 500 leaflets were distributed in defence of secularism and universal rights. In Canada, several acts took place, including a rally and a column written in a local paper. The Secular Humanist League of Brazil, The Peace and Freedom Party of San Francisco, and the Brussels Humanist Society amongst others issued press releases and an artist in the Netherlands contributed their artwork to the campaign. In Ibadan, Nigeria, leaflets saying ‘no to faith-based laws’ were distributed on the streets and at markets. In Pakistan, those trying to take part in an act were brutally beaten.
Photos and video footage of the rally speeches and performances can be seen here.
The protest was covered by several media outlets including on BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme and in an article entitled Just say no to Sharia by Peter Tatchell in Guardian's Comment is Free.
One Law for All will continue to push for an end to Sharia and religious laws in Britain. In the coming year, the campaign aims to conduct a survey of women who have been to Sharia courts here, will hold a fundraiser dinner on January 28, 2010 to raise money for the campaign; will host a March 8, 2010 seminar with legislators, lawyers and campaigners to recommend the legal and legislative avenues to ban Sharia and religious courts in Britain; will organise a June 20, 2010 rally against Sharia law; and will hold an October 10, 2010 conference on Sharia Law and Apostasy amongst other activities.
To support the campaign, please send a cheque made payable to One Law for All or donate via Paypal by visiting our website.
For more information, to sign on to our petition, or to volunteer visit our website or contact:
One Law for All
BM Box 2387
London WC1N 3XX, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 7719166731
onelawforall@gmail.com
At the rally, over 20 speakers and performers exposed the discriminatory and brutal nature of religious laws. They included Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s Asad Abbas; International Humanist and Ethical Union’s Roy Brown; Philosopher AC Grayling; Southall Black Sisters’ Rahila Gupta; MP Evan Harris; Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq’s Houzan Mahmoud; Lawyer Rony Miah; Campaigner Maryam Namazie; British Humanist Association’s Naomi Phillips; European Humanist Federation’s David Pollock; National Secular Society’s Terry Sanderson; Activist Muriel Seltman; Equal Rights Now’s Sohaila Sharifi; Organisation for the Defence of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq’s Issam Shukri; Iran Solidarity’s Bahar Milani; Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell; National Secular Society’s Keith Porteous Wood and the rally’s Master of Ceremonies, Iranian Secular Society’s Fariborz Pooya.
The rally heard from people with direct experiences of Sharia law, including Iranian-born activist Sohaila Sharifi and a Somali-born secularist who spoke of his cousin who had been forced to remain in a violent marriage by the sham courts here in Britain. He said: ‘I wanted to tell you my cousin’s story to highlight that whatever the pro-Sharia lobby say, we know that there are women out there being abused, and sadly all too-often too afraid to come forward. The only ‘choice’ my cousin was given, was either to be separated from her children or remain in a violent marriage. She chose to stay in the marriage for the sake of her children... I don’t think this is a ‘choice’ – how can it be?’
Maryam Namazie, the One Law for All Spokesperson, also gave several examples of the legal compulsion involved in the decisions of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunals and Sharia Councils, particularly with regards forced marriages, divorce and child custody. She went on to say that it was scandalous that countless women were relegated to kangaroo courts with lesser rights here in Britain and elsewhere.
Campaigner Peter Tatchell said: ‘Sharia law is a form of religious dogma and tyranny. It is homophobic, sexist and anti-democratic.’ Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society went on to say that: ‘Sharia law does not develop, it is fixed and immutable, but its interpretation is unpredictable, unregulated and subject to the whims and prejudices of individual practitioners.’
Many of the speakers spoke of the brutalities of Sharia in other countries. Issam Shukri from Iraq told the rally how Islamic militias linked to the cleric and MP Muqtada al-Sadr had executed dozens of women who they deemed to be improperly dressed because they were not fully covered head-to-toe in Iraq. Examples were also given of rights violations under Sharia in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, Somalia and elsewhere.
Activist Muriel Seltman condemned the cultural relativism that allows for religious laws to go unchallenged. She said: ‘What can be more racist than laying down different standards for different people in different societies? This is what is racist not the criticism of barbaric practices.’
Many speakers criticised the right of religion to special status to undermine fundamental human rights. David Pollock of the European Humanist Federation said: ‘Sharia courts seek to provide a parallel legal system... Arguments for Sharia law are based on the concept of group rights. And group rights are inherently hostile to human rights.’ MP Evan Harris condemned the government for giving privileged advisory status on policy and legislation to often unrepresentative faith leaders. Lawyer Rony Miah said: ‘Having separate systems of law for different communities are no different from separate faith schools; it will only lead to a fragmenting of communities - not cohesion.’
Rahila Gupta of Southall Black Sisters added: ‘accommodating alternative systems of justice is not about choice or tolerance in a pluralistic society; it is not about Muslim women's autonomy. These demands emerge from fundamentalist politics however they are dressed up.’
Roy Brown of the International Humanist and Ethical Union spoke about how Islamic states are behind the demand for more religious laws and the banning of any criticism of Islam. He said: Sharia law [in Britain] is but a small part of a worldwide campaign to replace international law with Islamic law… The acceptance of Sharia law for the settlement of family disputes in Britain is just one small part of a global problem.’
Maryam Namazie said that Sharia courts and councils were extensions of the political Islamic movement – not the demand of Muslims or those labelled as such – and resistance to it was global as well. She told the crowd: ‘Sharia adversely affects the rights, lives and freedoms of countless human beings across the world. Opposing Sharia law is a crucial step in defending universal equal rights and secularism, and showing real solidarity with people living under and resisting Sharia.’ Fariborz Pooya added that ‘people living under Sharia law are the first victims and at the same time the first line of resistance against it and must be defended.’
Writer AC Grayling went on to say: ‘The principle of one law for all, with everyone equal before the law, is a vital one for a genuine democracy. The One Law For All campaign is doing an urgently needed job of protecting those who, hidden behind the veil of Sharia or other religious 'courts', risk injustice, abuse, and deprivation of rights.’
During the rally, Bahar Milani and Richard Francis of Iran Solidarity led an act against child executions. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the only state that continues to execute minors. At least 130 juveniles are on death row in Iran, including for homosexuality, apostasy, sex outside of marriage and involvement in school or street fights that have resulted in murder.
Throughout the event, there were performances from poets AK47, Lilith and Christine from the Anti-Injustice Movement and Selina Jus1jam from Yorkshire as well as musician Fari B and singer/songwriter David Fisher.
On the day, many others took part in simultaneous acts of solidarity with the rally and its demands in 23 countries across the globe, namely Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. In Serbia and Montenegro, Women in Black held a number of film events in support of women’s rights in Afghanistan. In Baghdad, 500 leaflets were distributed in defence of secularism and universal rights. In Canada, several acts took place, including a rally and a column written in a local paper. The Secular Humanist League of Brazil, The Peace and Freedom Party of San Francisco, and the Brussels Humanist Society amongst others issued press releases and an artist in the Netherlands contributed their artwork to the campaign. In Ibadan, Nigeria, leaflets saying ‘no to faith-based laws’ were distributed on the streets and at markets. In Pakistan, those trying to take part in an act were brutally beaten.
Photos and video footage of the rally speeches and performances can be seen here.
The protest was covered by several media outlets including on BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme and in an article entitled Just say no to Sharia by Peter Tatchell in Guardian's Comment is Free.
One Law for All will continue to push for an end to Sharia and religious laws in Britain. In the coming year, the campaign aims to conduct a survey of women who have been to Sharia courts here, will hold a fundraiser dinner on January 28, 2010 to raise money for the campaign; will host a March 8, 2010 seminar with legislators, lawyers and campaigners to recommend the legal and legislative avenues to ban Sharia and religious courts in Britain; will organise a June 20, 2010 rally against Sharia law; and will hold an October 10, 2010 conference on Sharia Law and Apostasy amongst other activities.
To support the campaign, please send a cheque made payable to One Law for All or donate via Paypal by visiting our website.
For more information, to sign on to our petition, or to volunteer visit our website or contact:
One Law for All
BM Box 2387
London WC1N 3XX, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 7719166731
onelawforall@gmail.com
Sunday, November 22, 2009
November 21 rally a huge success!
Several hundred people joined a successful rally organised by One Law for All on November 21, 2009 in London's Hyde Park. Acts of solidarity also took place in nearly 20 countries around the globe.
To hear coverage of the rally on BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme, click here (from 2400-3100 minutes).
See also an article by Peter Tatchell in Guardian's Comment is Free on the
Rally published Nov 20.
A more detailed report to follow shortly.
To hear coverage of the rally on BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme, click here (from 2400-3100 minutes).
See also an article by Peter Tatchell in Guardian's Comment is Free on the
Rally published Nov 20.
A more detailed report to follow shortly.
Friday, November 20, 2009
21 November is a day against Sharia law and for human rights
Press Release
For immediate release
21 November is a day against Sharia law and for human rights
One Law for All campaign is organising a rally on Saturday 21 November 2009 at 1200pm in London’s Hyde Park. The rally aims to oppose religious laws in Britain and elsewhere, show solidarity with people living under and resisting Sharia, and to defend universal rights and secularism.
The One Law for All campaign rally marks Universal Children’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women:
Date: November 21, 2009
Time: 1200hrs – 1400hrs
Place: North Carriage Drive, in-between Stanhope Place Gate and Albion Gate, Hyde Park (closest underground Marble Arch).
Please take note of underground closures on the day.
Simultaneous acts of solidarity and support for the rally and its aims will take place in countries across the world including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. (To organise an act – however small – contact us; right now acts taking place are groups or individuals handing out leaflets, organising a petition, holding rallies, issuing a statement on Sharia and so on.)
Moreover, winners of the campaign’s art competition exposing the discriminatory nature of religious law and promoting freedom and equal rights will be announced at the event.
One Law for All Spokesperson, Maryam Namazie, commented, ‘Sharia law is becoming a key battleground, particularly because it is an extension and representation of the rising threat of Islamism. Sharia matters to people everywhere because it adversely affects the rights, lives and freedoms of countless human beings across the world. Opposing Sharia law is a crucial step in defending universal and equal rights and secularism and showing real solidarity with people living under and resisting it everywhere. November 21 is yet another important day for further strengthening the mass movement needed that can and will put a stop to Sharia once and for all.’
Notes
1. The One Law for All campaign rally marks Universal Children’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women:
Date: November 21, 2009
Time: 1200hrs – 1400hrs
Place: North Carriage Drive, in-between Stanhope Place Gate and Albion Gate, Hyde Park (closest underground Marble Arch).
Please take note of underground closures on the day: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/by-date.aspx?offset=weekend
2. Speakers at the rally include: Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s Asad Abbas; Poet ‘AK47;’ Musician Fari B; International Humanist and Ethical Union’s Roy Brown; Singer/Songwriter David Fisher; Philosopher AC Grayling; Southall Black Sisters’ Rahila Gupta; Journalist Johann Hari; MP Evan Harris; Poet ‘Lilith;’ Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq’s Houzan Mahmoud, Lawyer Cris Mccurley; Lawyer Rony Miah; Campaigner Maryam Namazie; Writer Taslima Nasrin; British Humanist Association’s Naomi Phillips; European Humanist Federation’s David Pollock; Iranian Secular Society’s Fariborz Pooya; National Secular Society’s Terry Sanderson; Poet Selina aka ‘Jus1Jam;’ Activist Muriel Seltman; Equal Rights Now’s Sohaila Sharifi; Organisation for the Defence of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq’s Issam Shukri; Iran Solidarity’s Bahram Soroush; Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell and National Secular Society’s Keith Porteous Wood.
3. Art competition judges are Philosopher AC Grayling; Singer Deeyah; Journalist Johann Hari; and Columnist Polly Toynbee.
4. Responses to Frequently Asked Questions including the affinity between the far right and the Islamists, the issue of secularism, whether Islamic states are a threat to humankind and the need to defend the right to asylum for those who have fled Sharia law can be found on http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/about/faq.
5. One Law for All campaign was launched on 10 December 2008 - International Human Rights Day. It has since received the support of over 20,000 groups and individuals.
6. For further comment or information, please contact Maryam Namazie on +44 (0) 7719166731 or onelawforall@gmail.com or visit www.onelawforall.org.uk.
For immediate release
21 November is a day against Sharia law and for human rights
One Law for All campaign is organising a rally on Saturday 21 November 2009 at 1200pm in London’s Hyde Park. The rally aims to oppose religious laws in Britain and elsewhere, show solidarity with people living under and resisting Sharia, and to defend universal rights and secularism.
The One Law for All campaign rally marks Universal Children’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women:
Date: November 21, 2009
Time: 1200hrs – 1400hrs
Place: North Carriage Drive, in-between Stanhope Place Gate and Albion Gate, Hyde Park (closest underground Marble Arch).
Please take note of underground closures on the day.
Simultaneous acts of solidarity and support for the rally and its aims will take place in countries across the world including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. (To organise an act – however small – contact us; right now acts taking place are groups or individuals handing out leaflets, organising a petition, holding rallies, issuing a statement on Sharia and so on.)
Moreover, winners of the campaign’s art competition exposing the discriminatory nature of religious law and promoting freedom and equal rights will be announced at the event.
One Law for All Spokesperson, Maryam Namazie, commented, ‘Sharia law is becoming a key battleground, particularly because it is an extension and representation of the rising threat of Islamism. Sharia matters to people everywhere because it adversely affects the rights, lives and freedoms of countless human beings across the world. Opposing Sharia law is a crucial step in defending universal and equal rights and secularism and showing real solidarity with people living under and resisting it everywhere. November 21 is yet another important day for further strengthening the mass movement needed that can and will put a stop to Sharia once and for all.’
Notes
1. The One Law for All campaign rally marks Universal Children’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women:
Date: November 21, 2009
Time: 1200hrs – 1400hrs
Place: North Carriage Drive, in-between Stanhope Place Gate and Albion Gate, Hyde Park (closest underground Marble Arch).
Please take note of underground closures on the day: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/by-date.aspx?offset=weekend
2. Speakers at the rally include: Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s Asad Abbas; Poet ‘AK47;’ Musician Fari B; International Humanist and Ethical Union’s Roy Brown; Singer/Songwriter David Fisher; Philosopher AC Grayling; Southall Black Sisters’ Rahila Gupta; Journalist Johann Hari; MP Evan Harris; Poet ‘Lilith;’ Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq’s Houzan Mahmoud, Lawyer Cris Mccurley; Lawyer Rony Miah; Campaigner Maryam Namazie; Writer Taslima Nasrin; British Humanist Association’s Naomi Phillips; European Humanist Federation’s David Pollock; Iranian Secular Society’s Fariborz Pooya; National Secular Society’s Terry Sanderson; Poet Selina aka ‘Jus1Jam;’ Activist Muriel Seltman; Equal Rights Now’s Sohaila Sharifi; Organisation for the Defence of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq’s Issam Shukri; Iran Solidarity’s Bahram Soroush; Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell and National Secular Society’s Keith Porteous Wood.
3. Art competition judges are Philosopher AC Grayling; Singer Deeyah; Journalist Johann Hari; and Columnist Polly Toynbee.
4. Responses to Frequently Asked Questions including the affinity between the far right and the Islamists, the issue of secularism, whether Islamic states are a threat to humankind and the need to defend the right to asylum for those who have fled Sharia law can be found on http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/about/faq.
5. One Law for All campaign was launched on 10 December 2008 - International Human Rights Day. It has since received the support of over 20,000 groups and individuals.
6. For further comment or information, please contact Maryam Namazie on +44 (0) 7719166731 or onelawforall@gmail.com or visit www.onelawforall.org.uk.
Just say no to Sharia
Read Peter Tatchell's piece in the Guardian's Comment is Free section on 21 November rally tomorrow here.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Acts of solidarity against Sharia law
See photos and film footage of acts of solidarity against Sharia law by Maryam Namazie, Muriel Seltman, Bahar Milani and Veronika here:
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
You don’t need to know Arabic to oppose Sharia
November 18, 2009
Usman writes: You don't speak a word of Arabic. Your only understanding of the Holy Qur'an is through a man-made translation in a foreign language. Your understanding of the Shariah has been acquired through studying those who reflect your own ignorance of this institution. My dear, stop wasting your life trying to solve 'our' problem. Solve 'your' problem first. Your problem is not the Shariah. It is the fact that you hate the identity destiny gave you. You cannot help others find themselves when your own self is lost in the hatred of its own reflection.
Maryam Namazie responds: There are a lot of Muslims, ex-Muslims and atheists even who don’t speak a word of Arabic or who do. Obviously that is not a criterion for understanding, accepting, or as in my case rejecting Islam and religion.
Moreover, we aren’t talking about something centuries past or taking place on some other planet. Every day, all day, we live through and can see the misery, barbarity and cruelty that Sharia and political Islam are unleashing across the world. Not a day goes by without this movement hanging the likes of sweet 16 year old Atefeh Rajabi for 'acts incompatible with chastity,' stoning men and women to death for adultery, executing apostates like Ehsan Fattahian, throwing acid in the faces of girls who dare to go to school, imposing sexual apartheid and misogyny, and murdering our beloved Nedas in broad daylight.
Our opposition to Sharia is not about solving your problems (which seem far too great for that) but about standing up for humanity vis-à-vis this onslaught.
And by the way, people’s destiny is what they make of it and we are making ours.
And unlike Sharia and Islamism, it has nothing to do with hate.
***
As an aside on the issue of ‘the identity given by destiny’ and being born into Islam, the late Humanist and Marxist Mansoor Hekmat said it best: ‘The child has no religion, tradition and prejudices. She has not joined any religious sect. She is a new human being who, by accident and irrespective of her will has been born into a family with specific religion, tradition, and prejudices…’
To read more about my perspective on Islam, political Islam and women’s status, click here.
Usman writes: You don't speak a word of Arabic. Your only understanding of the Holy Qur'an is through a man-made translation in a foreign language. Your understanding of the Shariah has been acquired through studying those who reflect your own ignorance of this institution. My dear, stop wasting your life trying to solve 'our' problem. Solve 'your' problem first. Your problem is not the Shariah. It is the fact that you hate the identity destiny gave you. You cannot help others find themselves when your own self is lost in the hatred of its own reflection.
Maryam Namazie responds: There are a lot of Muslims, ex-Muslims and atheists even who don’t speak a word of Arabic or who do. Obviously that is not a criterion for understanding, accepting, or as in my case rejecting Islam and religion.
Moreover, we aren’t talking about something centuries past or taking place on some other planet. Every day, all day, we live through and can see the misery, barbarity and cruelty that Sharia and political Islam are unleashing across the world. Not a day goes by without this movement hanging the likes of sweet 16 year old Atefeh Rajabi for 'acts incompatible with chastity,' stoning men and women to death for adultery, executing apostates like Ehsan Fattahian, throwing acid in the faces of girls who dare to go to school, imposing sexual apartheid and misogyny, and murdering our beloved Nedas in broad daylight.
Our opposition to Sharia is not about solving your problems (which seem far too great for that) but about standing up for humanity vis-à-vis this onslaught.
And by the way, people’s destiny is what they make of it and we are making ours.
And unlike Sharia and Islamism, it has nothing to do with hate.
***
As an aside on the issue of ‘the identity given by destiny’ and being born into Islam, the late Humanist and Marxist Mansoor Hekmat said it best: ‘The child has no religion, tradition and prejudices. She has not joined any religious sect. She is a new human being who, by accident and irrespective of her will has been born into a family with specific religion, tradition, and prejudices…’
To read more about my perspective on Islam, political Islam and women’s status, click here.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Iran: we must get the jailed sugar cane workers freed
International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI)Ali Nejati, president of the union of Haft Tappeh sugar cane workers, today became the fifth worker to start a six-month jail sentence at Dezful Prison in Iran. He joins his colleagues Fereydoon Nikoofard, Jalil Ahmadi, Ghorban Alipoor and Mohammad Heydari, who were detained and imprisoned earlier this month.
The jailings come after a long and bitter fight by the sugar cane workers over months of unpaid wages and for the right to set up their union.
In the days leading up to today’s summons’ deadline, Nejati issued several letters on behalf of sugar cane workers and his jailed colleagues calling for support by workers in Iran and internationally.
“While employers can freely organise, workers who set up their independent organisations are prosecuted and put in jail”, said Nejati in his letter dated 7th November. “Today is the day to support workers who fought in Haft Tappeh for workers’ rights, and who were elected by Haft Tappeh workers to represent them in an independent organisation. No doubt tomorrow and in future when we are out of prison we will do our share in this workers’ duty”.
In a statement on Saturday, the Free Union of Iranian Workers reiterated Ali Nejati’s call for support for the jailed sugar cane workers and their families (Read the full text of the English translation here: www.kargaran.org).
We must get these workers freed! Thrashed by months of revolutionary protests of the people, the regime in Iran is in its most vulnerable state ever. It cannot and should not be allowed to continue with its usual brazen acts of worker persecution, and must be driven back. Your solidarity is needed more than ever. Please publicise the news about these jailed workers and help in whatever other ways you can to get these workers freed. We can get them freed!
For more information, email ILSC-WPI.
The Free Union of Iranian Workers calls for support for jailed sugar cane workers of Haft Tappeh
International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI)
The following is the translation of an appeal by the Free Union of Iranian Workers calling for support for the jailed sugar cane workers and their families in Iran – ILSC-WPI, Nov 16, 2009
* * *
Organisation, strike and assembly are our certain rights
Honourable workers and people of Iran
Four workers of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Company, Fereydoon Nikoofard, Jalil Ahmadi, Ghorban Alipoor and Mohammad Heydari have been detained and sent to prison, following the confirmation of their six-month sentences by the appeal court. Another worker, Ali Nejati, is also about to be apprehended.*
Meanwhile, Farzad Kamangar, Mansoor Osaalou and Ebrahim Madadi are still serving long prison terms. Mehdi Farahi Shandiz is still in jail, without charge, six months after being arrested on May Day in Tehran, while other May Day detainees, having already spent some two months in jail, are also being summoned.
These workers have not committed any crime. Their only crime is to have protested against injustice and delays in payment of wages; for having celebrated May Day and for having built organisations to defend their most basic human rights.
The imprisoned sugar cane workers repeatedly came out into the streets at the forefront of their colleagues to protest at the non-payment of wages and the starvation to which their families have been subjected. The response by the existing system to the most basic demands of the workers has been nothing but batons, tear gas and fabricated court cases.
Having worked at Haft Tappeh company for years under the harshest conditions, and having created hundreds of billions of Tomans of wealth, these workers had every right to come out into the streets to protest at unpaid wages and the appalling conditions that the inhuman capitalist system has imposed on them and their families. They were right to rise up in protest against the violation of their most basic human rights and in defence of the right to life. They were right to build their independent organisation so as to unite their forces against the endless abuses of the employer.
Freedom-loving workers and people of Iran
Chaining up the sugar cane workers for setting up their organisation and for protesting at the non-payment of wages means silencing every cry for freedom of all workers in the country. We must stand up to this in a united rank and call for the immediate and unconditional release of these workers.
The Free Union of Iranian Workers condemns the detention and jailing of Haft Tappeh workers and the continued imprisonment of Farzad Kamangar, Ebrahim Madadi, Mansoor Ossalou and other justice-seeking people who are in the country’s prisons. We call on the workers and all the people of Iran to support the demand for the immediate and unconditional release of these prisoners and to offer their support to their families.
Our Union sets aside a monthly sum of 3 million Rials (in addition to donations raised from amongst our members and other workers) and calls on all workers and people in Iran to raise and send donations for the families of the jailed Haft Tappeh workers. Our union will stand by Haft Tappeh workers in their struggle for their human rights, and, while continuing its fight for their release, will not forget about their families.
Organisation, strike and assembly are our certain rights
Long live Haft Tappeh workers
Long live workers’ solidarity
The Free Union of Iranian Workers
14 November 2009
www.ettehadeh.com
k.ekhraji@gmail.com
Fax: 02144514795
* Ali Nejati, the president of the union, began a six-month sentence on Monday 16 November – Note by translator
The following is the translation of an appeal by the Free Union of Iranian Workers calling for support for the jailed sugar cane workers and their families in Iran – ILSC-WPI, Nov 16, 2009
* * *
Organisation, strike and assembly are our certain rights
Honourable workers and people of Iran
Four workers of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Company, Fereydoon Nikoofard, Jalil Ahmadi, Ghorban Alipoor and Mohammad Heydari have been detained and sent to prison, following the confirmation of their six-month sentences by the appeal court. Another worker, Ali Nejati, is also about to be apprehended.*
Meanwhile, Farzad Kamangar, Mansoor Osaalou and Ebrahim Madadi are still serving long prison terms. Mehdi Farahi Shandiz is still in jail, without charge, six months after being arrested on May Day in Tehran, while other May Day detainees, having already spent some two months in jail, are also being summoned.
These workers have not committed any crime. Their only crime is to have protested against injustice and delays in payment of wages; for having celebrated May Day and for having built organisations to defend their most basic human rights.
The imprisoned sugar cane workers repeatedly came out into the streets at the forefront of their colleagues to protest at the non-payment of wages and the starvation to which their families have been subjected. The response by the existing system to the most basic demands of the workers has been nothing but batons, tear gas and fabricated court cases.
Having worked at Haft Tappeh company for years under the harshest conditions, and having created hundreds of billions of Tomans of wealth, these workers had every right to come out into the streets to protest at unpaid wages and the appalling conditions that the inhuman capitalist system has imposed on them and their families. They were right to rise up in protest against the violation of their most basic human rights and in defence of the right to life. They were right to build their independent organisation so as to unite their forces against the endless abuses of the employer.
Freedom-loving workers and people of Iran
Chaining up the sugar cane workers for setting up their organisation and for protesting at the non-payment of wages means silencing every cry for freedom of all workers in the country. We must stand up to this in a united rank and call for the immediate and unconditional release of these workers.
The Free Union of Iranian Workers condemns the detention and jailing of Haft Tappeh workers and the continued imprisonment of Farzad Kamangar, Ebrahim Madadi, Mansoor Ossalou and other justice-seeking people who are in the country’s prisons. We call on the workers and all the people of Iran to support the demand for the immediate and unconditional release of these prisoners and to offer their support to their families.
Our Union sets aside a monthly sum of 3 million Rials (in addition to donations raised from amongst our members and other workers) and calls on all workers and people in Iran to raise and send donations for the families of the jailed Haft Tappeh workers. Our union will stand by Haft Tappeh workers in their struggle for their human rights, and, while continuing its fight for their release, will not forget about their families.
Organisation, strike and assembly are our certain rights
Long live Haft Tappeh workers
Long live workers’ solidarity
The Free Union of Iranian Workers
14 November 2009
www.ettehadeh.com
k.ekhraji@gmail.com
Fax: 02144514795
* Ali Nejati, the president of the union, began a six-month sentence on Monday 16 November – Note by translator
Nationalism is a regressive trend
Robin writes: Maryam, while I agree with your critique of those comments of Stephen Gash [of Stop Islamisation Of Europe], on some other points I think you are too unforgiving of human limitations. You have to judge people not only from where they are at at a particular moment but also in terms of where they have come from and could be progressing to. For all their faults the English Defence League, etc has arisen from “ordinary (lower class) people”, having direct experience of being oppressed by both Islamism and by a wider politically-correct anti-Britishness. Your own efforts are very much a realm restricted to only relatively posh ‘intellectualism’ sort of people, even though I appreciate that is not your intent. I think it is very sad that you fail to appreciate the need to at least try to engage with and build bridges with those of differing views and values, rather than find reasons to condemn them. It’s clear that most of the organisers of the EDL etc are naive people with zero experience of campaigning, or even of thinking about political issues. I would hope that you could be an inspiration to them to improve on their views and attitudes, rather than someone who spits in their face as if they are some sort of Untermenschen unworthy of your time. I think you’ll find there are a lot more of them than of you, and if you don’t exert any influence on them now, you will find the agenda moving on without your useful input…
Maryam Namazie responds: Political ideologies are not measured by the numbers of ‘ordinary’ working class people who subscribe to them, and anyway have you counted ours versus the BNP’s or the EDL’s to know?
Irrespective of numbers, ideologies and movements linked to them have to be judged not by the makeup of their supporters but their impact and effect on the lives of ordinary people everywhere. The nationalism that the EDL, BNP, SOIE and their likes promote is segregationist, divisive, anti- working class and inhumane; it denies universal human identity. In fact, nationalism is by its very nature discriminatory and a reactionary trend and incompatible with human freedom and progress.
So it is obvious then that we can’t build links with far-right groups that are antithetical to ours. Just as we can’t forge links with the Islamists. Our job is to criticize both of them, and mobilize people to oppose them and leave their ranks and to join us. That is politics and if people can’t take the heat, well there is always football hooliganism to return to.
Finally, Robin, you are sadly mistaken if you think there are a lot more of them than us – that will the day that we have lost and we don’t intend to.
Maryam Namazie responds: Political ideologies are not measured by the numbers of ‘ordinary’ working class people who subscribe to them, and anyway have you counted ours versus the BNP’s or the EDL’s to know?
Irrespective of numbers, ideologies and movements linked to them have to be judged not by the makeup of their supporters but their impact and effect on the lives of ordinary people everywhere. The nationalism that the EDL, BNP, SOIE and their likes promote is segregationist, divisive, anti- working class and inhumane; it denies universal human identity. In fact, nationalism is by its very nature discriminatory and a reactionary trend and incompatible with human freedom and progress.
So it is obvious then that we can’t build links with far-right groups that are antithetical to ours. Just as we can’t forge links with the Islamists. Our job is to criticize both of them, and mobilize people to oppose them and leave their ranks and to join us. That is politics and if people can’t take the heat, well there is always football hooliganism to return to.
Finally, Robin, you are sadly mistaken if you think there are a lot more of them than us – that will the day that we have lost and we don’t intend to.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Our campaign is a defence of human civilisation
Clive writes: ‘I feel quite powerless to convince people of the real threat that Western civilisation is facing, so it makes me feel more hopeful when I learn of initiatives such as yours. If there is anything I can do, let me know. I am willing to send money if you are in need of it. Keep up the good work.’
Maryam Namazie responds: Thank you! Donations are always appreciated as we rely solely on support from the public to keep us going. Any initiative like ours that gives people hope is an initiative worthy of support.
I do want to add however that it is human and not Western civilisation that is being threatened.
Though this may not have been your intention, when I hear of Sharia law framed as an attack on Western civilisation it makes it seem to me as if it is only those living in the West who deserve rights and freedoms. Also saying it is an attack on Western civilisation denies political Islam’s assault on people’s lives outside the West - and long before September 11. Similarly, the Islamists frame any opposition to Sharia law as Western as if people choose to live under that which is imposed with brute force and indiscriminate violence.
The reality is that a vast majority of civilised humanity are refusing and resisting the political Islamic movement day in and day out because rights, freedoms and lives worthy of the 21st century are a demand and desire of people across the globe.
I think this is an important point if we are to make links with and show real solidarity with people at the forefront of this battle in places like Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.
I mean after all, who better to represent this human civilisation than the likes of 27 year old Neda Agha Soltan, killed on June 20 by the Islamic regime of Iran for demanding freedom?
* See more about Neda here and here.
* Join November 21 rally in London's Hyde Park to oppose Sharia and religious laws and show solidarity with people languishing under and resisting it worldwide. For more information on the rally, go to One Law for All website.
Maryam Namazie responds: Thank you! Donations are always appreciated as we rely solely on support from the public to keep us going. Any initiative like ours that gives people hope is an initiative worthy of support.
I do want to add however that it is human and not Western civilisation that is being threatened.
Though this may not have been your intention, when I hear of Sharia law framed as an attack on Western civilisation it makes it seem to me as if it is only those living in the West who deserve rights and freedoms. Also saying it is an attack on Western civilisation denies political Islam’s assault on people’s lives outside the West - and long before September 11. Similarly, the Islamists frame any opposition to Sharia law as Western as if people choose to live under that which is imposed with brute force and indiscriminate violence.
The reality is that a vast majority of civilised humanity are refusing and resisting the political Islamic movement day in and day out because rights, freedoms and lives worthy of the 21st century are a demand and desire of people across the globe.
I think this is an important point if we are to make links with and show real solidarity with people at the forefront of this battle in places like Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.
I mean after all, who better to represent this human civilisation than the likes of 27 year old Neda Agha Soltan, killed on June 20 by the Islamic regime of Iran for demanding freedom?
* See more about Neda here and here.
* Join November 21 rally in London's Hyde Park to oppose Sharia and religious laws and show solidarity with people languishing under and resisting it worldwide. For more information on the rally, go to One Law for All website.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Execution of Shirko Moarefi postponed
International Committee against Executions
PRESS RELEASE
Saturday November 14, 2009
Following a wave of protests in Iran and internationally, the execution of Shirko Moarefi, which was due to take place today, Saturday 14 November, in the prison of the town of Saqez, has been postponed for the time being. Shirko has now been transferred back from the quarantine cell to the general ward.
However, the threat of execution still looms large over Shirko and a number of other political prisoners. So the work for the revoking of all the execution sentences continues.
The International Committee against Executions calls on the people of Saqez and other cities in Iran and Kurdistan to protest against the impending executions and to demand the revoking of all the execution sentences. The committee is continuing its international work and calls on everyone to hold protest actions in front of parliaments, in city centres and in other venues across Europe, North America and everywhere.
PRESS RELEASE
Saturday November 14, 2009
Following a wave of protests in Iran and internationally, the execution of Shirko Moarefi, which was due to take place today, Saturday 14 November, in the prison of the town of Saqez, has been postponed for the time being. Shirko has now been transferred back from the quarantine cell to the general ward.
However, the threat of execution still looms large over Shirko and a number of other political prisoners. So the work for the revoking of all the execution sentences continues.
The International Committee against Executions calls on the people of Saqez and other cities in Iran and Kurdistan to protest against the impending executions and to demand the revoking of all the execution sentences. The committee is continuing its international work and calls on everyone to hold protest actions in front of parliaments, in city centres and in other venues across Europe, North America and everywhere.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
21 November is a day against Sharia law and for human rights
Press Release
For immediate release
12 November 2009
One Law for All campaign is organising a rally on Saturday 21 November 2009 at 1200pm in London’s Hyde Park. The rally aims to oppose religious laws in Britain and elsewhere, show solidarity with people living under and resisting Sharia, and to defend universal rights and secularism.
Simultaneous acts of solidarity and support for the rally and its aims will take place in countries across the world including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Kenya, Nigeria, Serbia and Montenegro and Sweden.
Moreover, winners of the campaign’s art competition exposing the discriminatory nature of religious law and promoting freedom and equal rights will be announced at the event.
One Law for All Spokesperson, Maryam Namazie, commented, ‘Sharia law is becoming a key battleground, particularly because it is an extension and representation of the rising threat of Islamism. Sharia matters to people everywhere because it adversely affects the rights, lives and freedoms of countless human beings across the world. Opposing Sharia law is a crucial step in defending universal and equal rights and secularism and showing real solidarity with people living under and resisting it everywhere. November 21 is yet another important day for further strengthening the mass movement needed that can and will put a stop to Sharia once and for all.’
Notes
1. The One Law for All campaign rally marks Universal Children’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women:
Date: November 21, 2009
Time: 1200hrs – 1400hrs
Place: North Carriage Drive, in-between Stanhope Place Gate and Albion Gate, Hyde Park (closest underground Marble Arch).
2. Speakers at the rally include: Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s Asad Abbas; Poet ‘AK47;’ One Law for All’s Yasmin Atasheen; Musician Fari B; International Humanist and Ethical Union’s Roy Brown; Singer/Songwriter David Fisher; Philosopher AC Grayling; Women Against Fundamentalism’s Rahila Gupta; Journalist Johann Hari; Poet ‘Lilith;’ Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq’s Houzan Mahmoud, Lawyer Cris Mccurley; Lawyer Rony Miah; Campaigner Maryam Namazie; Writer Taslima Nasrin; Southall Black Sisters’ Pragna Patel; British Humanist Association’s Naomi Phillips; European Humanist Federation’s David Pollock; Iranian Secular Society’s Fariborz Pooya; National Secular Society’s Terry Sanderson; Poet Selina aka ‘Jus1Jam;’ Activist Muriel Seltman; Equal Rights Now’s Sohaila Sharifi; Organisation for the Defence of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq’s Issam Shukri; Iran Solidarity’s Bahram Soroush; Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell and National Secular Society’s Keith Porteous Wood.
3. Art competition judges are Philosopher AC Grayling; Singer Deeyah; Journalist Johann Hari; and Columnist Polly Toynbee.
4. Responses to Frequently Asked Questions including the affinity between the far right and the Islamists, the issue of secularism, whether Islamic states are a threat to humankind and the need to defend the right to asylum for those who have fled Sharia law can be found here.
5. One Law for All campaign was launched on 10 December 2008 - International Human Rights Day. It has since received the support of over 20,000 groups and individuals.
6. For further comment or information, please contact Maryam Namazie on +44 (0) 7719166731 or onelawforall@gmail.com or visit its website.
For immediate release
12 November 2009
One Law for All campaign is organising a rally on Saturday 21 November 2009 at 1200pm in London’s Hyde Park. The rally aims to oppose religious laws in Britain and elsewhere, show solidarity with people living under and resisting Sharia, and to defend universal rights and secularism.
Simultaneous acts of solidarity and support for the rally and its aims will take place in countries across the world including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Kenya, Nigeria, Serbia and Montenegro and Sweden.
Moreover, winners of the campaign’s art competition exposing the discriminatory nature of religious law and promoting freedom and equal rights will be announced at the event.
One Law for All Spokesperson, Maryam Namazie, commented, ‘Sharia law is becoming a key battleground, particularly because it is an extension and representation of the rising threat of Islamism. Sharia matters to people everywhere because it adversely affects the rights, lives and freedoms of countless human beings across the world. Opposing Sharia law is a crucial step in defending universal and equal rights and secularism and showing real solidarity with people living under and resisting it everywhere. November 21 is yet another important day for further strengthening the mass movement needed that can and will put a stop to Sharia once and for all.’
Notes
1. The One Law for All campaign rally marks Universal Children’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women:
Date: November 21, 2009
Time: 1200hrs – 1400hrs
Place: North Carriage Drive, in-between Stanhope Place Gate and Albion Gate, Hyde Park (closest underground Marble Arch).
2. Speakers at the rally include: Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s Asad Abbas; Poet ‘AK47;’ One Law for All’s Yasmin Atasheen; Musician Fari B; International Humanist and Ethical Union’s Roy Brown; Singer/Songwriter David Fisher; Philosopher AC Grayling; Women Against Fundamentalism’s Rahila Gupta; Journalist Johann Hari; Poet ‘Lilith;’ Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq’s Houzan Mahmoud, Lawyer Cris Mccurley; Lawyer Rony Miah; Campaigner Maryam Namazie; Writer Taslima Nasrin; Southall Black Sisters’ Pragna Patel; British Humanist Association’s Naomi Phillips; European Humanist Federation’s David Pollock; Iranian Secular Society’s Fariborz Pooya; National Secular Society’s Terry Sanderson; Poet Selina aka ‘Jus1Jam;’ Activist Muriel Seltman; Equal Rights Now’s Sohaila Sharifi; Organisation for the Defence of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq’s Issam Shukri; Iran Solidarity’s Bahram Soroush; Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell and National Secular Society’s Keith Porteous Wood.
3. Art competition judges are Philosopher AC Grayling; Singer Deeyah; Journalist Johann Hari; and Columnist Polly Toynbee.
4. Responses to Frequently Asked Questions including the affinity between the far right and the Islamists, the issue of secularism, whether Islamic states are a threat to humankind and the need to defend the right to asylum for those who have fled Sharia law can be found here.
5. One Law for All campaign was launched on 10 December 2008 - International Human Rights Day. It has since received the support of over 20,000 groups and individuals.
6. For further comment or information, please contact Maryam Namazie on +44 (0) 7719166731 or onelawforall@gmail.com or visit its website.
Islamic states and Sharia are a threat to humankind
See interview in English with Maryam Namazie by Eli Vieira, President, LiHS - Secular Humanist League of Brazil below or here. Maryam is now an Emeritus member of the LiHS.
You can see the interview in Portuguese here.
LiHS: You are a very busy activist taking a stand for a number of noble causes such as equal rights for women in Islamic countries, 'one law for all' (against Sharia law) in the UK, and support for those ex-Muslims who would have been perhaps executed for the 'crime' of apostasy. From whence comes all that energy? Have you always been like this and supported these causes?
Maryam Namazie: I have been active for over twenty years now – much of it the result of having lived through a revolution and witnessed its suppression and expropriation by the political Islamic movement in Iran. All the great revolutions – like the French, Russian and Iranian ones – change the world we live in and affect generations even when they are crushed as was the case in Iran (though we still see the revolutionary movement alive and well in Iran today).
And I think while we all hear about or live through things that outrage us into action, it does help a great deal to be linked into and part of progressive social movements and political parties as I am. For me, the determining moment came in 1994 when I was sitting in an Iranian refugee camp in Turkey and first heard of the late Marxist and worker-communist Mansoor Hekmat who has been my hero ever since – and that of any entire generation in Iran. I feel stronger because of it.
LiHS: You witnessed the upsurge of two Islamic states - Iran and Sudan. Are these a threat for the future of humankind? Could there be an Islamic state in which human rights are respected?
Maryam Namazie: Islamic states are a threat to humankind though not the only one – US-led militarism is another. I do think the two feed off each other and need the other for legitimisation in the same way that Israel and Hamas do or the Soviet Union and the US did during the Cold War. But like any threat much depends on the resistance it meets. Worse threats have been pushed back by the working class and progressive movements and this will be too.
In my opinion, an Islamic state that respects human rights is impossible; in fact the two are antithetical. It is the same for any religious state where religious dogma and rules take precedence over rights and freedoms and real live human beings. In fact religion is at its best when it restricts and represses. Religious laws and states belong to an era of medievalism and brutality. The enlightenment managed to push back the Church’s role in public life to a large extent – the same is needed with Islam in political power.
LiHS: Since the outbreak of riots against the supposed results of Iran's last election, the issue has since almost vanished from mass media in the western world, or at least in Brazil. A friend of mine in Iran has almost been arrested. Do any of the organisations you represent, particularly Equal Rights Now, have privileged access to information on what is happening there? How great is the support for democracy and secularism in Iran?
Maryam Namazie: News on the situation in Iran may have vanished but the protests are ongoing; people use any excuse to come out and show their opposition. The fraudulent election was one such case as everyone knows elections in Iran are not elections by any standards. I think the protests are not one off riots but the reflection of an unfolding revolution in Iran – one that could herald a new dawn for the country and the world.
Many of the organisations I am involved with – including the 24 hour New Channel TV – which is constantly being jammed by the Islamic regime of Iran because of its importance and the Worker-communist Party of Iran have wide reaching contacts within Iran. In fact New Channel TV has millions of viewers and receives hundreds of calls a day from Iran. The message coming out of Iran is very clear if one cares to listen and that is that the days of the Islamic regime are numbered and that people want nothing less than to drag Iran into the 21st century.
LiHS: What do you do in your everyday time in order to live a happy and interesting life, beside your tireless efforts to promote human rights and secularism in the world?
Maryam Namazie: I have a four year old son, which is the best thing that has ever happened to me. If I had known how wonderful it is to have children I would have had many more but unfortunately it’s a bit late for me to have a large family given that I am 43 now. I also have a wonderful partner and loving family and friends, which I think are so important. A lot of my personal time goes into being with my family but when I can I love to watch movies (sadly I love any romantic comedy no matter how cheesy) or music videos, dance, and I could sit in a café all day every day and not tire of watching people passing by.
LiHS: What is the role of science in your worldview? Does it have anything to do with your views about Islam and Christianity? What in your opinion is the common evil between Islam, Christianity and other religions?
Maryam Namazie: Science represents free inquiry, improvement, and human advancement whereas religion represents dogma, medievalism and regression. I think all religions are the same – Islam only matters more now because it is linked to a political movement.
LiHS: Do you think atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and sceptics from Latin America as ourselves could help you in any of your causes? How?
Maryam Namazie: Of course – I mean where would we be without the support of civilised humanity everywhere? There are so many ways to help too – and every act of support however small is appreciated and crucial for us. It could be anything from signing up to our campaigns, donating to our cause, volunteering, including by translating our materials, publicising our work in the Latin American media and amongst people and organisations there and so on. On November 21, we are organising a rally against Sharia and religious laws in Britain and in support of secularism and equal rights. We are asking people to stand with us in city centres across the globe to support our action. It doesn’t have to be very big – even a few people holding a banner or a placard saying no to Sharia and religious laws. We would post the various actions with any photographs on our website. Maybe some of your readers might be able to do something in support of our rally on November 21?
LiHS: Would you come to Brazil for a possible future meeting of freethinkers and human rights activists? We promise we wouldn't let Catholics baptise you.
Maryam Namazie: Oh well then, yes I would love to. I will go anywhere I am invited to share information and meet friends but also to confront opponents – and what better place than Brazil. I’m not too worried about being baptised – after all it means nothing to me – and in any case the National Secular Society has a debaptism certificate if I need it!
LiHS: Do you have any other advice for LiHS as a starting secular humanist organisation in Brazil?
Maryam Namazie: I wish you all the success in the world – I think it is hugely important for all of us to have an organisation like yours in Brazil. Even newly formed and small organisations can make a world of difference so keep at it. You have all our support and warm wishes and please do call on us if there is anything we can do to help.
LiHS: Maryam Namazie, it's been a great pleasure talking to you. You are surely one of the most admirable women in the world, and we look forward to hearing from you many times in the future.
Maryam Namazie: That’s very kind of you to say. It has been a pleasure and I know we will be working together for many years to come.
You can see the interview in Portuguese here.
LiHS: You are a very busy activist taking a stand for a number of noble causes such as equal rights for women in Islamic countries, 'one law for all' (against Sharia law) in the UK, and support for those ex-Muslims who would have been perhaps executed for the 'crime' of apostasy. From whence comes all that energy? Have you always been like this and supported these causes?
Maryam Namazie: I have been active for over twenty years now – much of it the result of having lived through a revolution and witnessed its suppression and expropriation by the political Islamic movement in Iran. All the great revolutions – like the French, Russian and Iranian ones – change the world we live in and affect generations even when they are crushed as was the case in Iran (though we still see the revolutionary movement alive and well in Iran today).
And I think while we all hear about or live through things that outrage us into action, it does help a great deal to be linked into and part of progressive social movements and political parties as I am. For me, the determining moment came in 1994 when I was sitting in an Iranian refugee camp in Turkey and first heard of the late Marxist and worker-communist Mansoor Hekmat who has been my hero ever since – and that of any entire generation in Iran. I feel stronger because of it.
LiHS: You witnessed the upsurge of two Islamic states - Iran and Sudan. Are these a threat for the future of humankind? Could there be an Islamic state in which human rights are respected?
Maryam Namazie: Islamic states are a threat to humankind though not the only one – US-led militarism is another. I do think the two feed off each other and need the other for legitimisation in the same way that Israel and Hamas do or the Soviet Union and the US did during the Cold War. But like any threat much depends on the resistance it meets. Worse threats have been pushed back by the working class and progressive movements and this will be too.
In my opinion, an Islamic state that respects human rights is impossible; in fact the two are antithetical. It is the same for any religious state where religious dogma and rules take precedence over rights and freedoms and real live human beings. In fact religion is at its best when it restricts and represses. Religious laws and states belong to an era of medievalism and brutality. The enlightenment managed to push back the Church’s role in public life to a large extent – the same is needed with Islam in political power.
LiHS: Since the outbreak of riots against the supposed results of Iran's last election, the issue has since almost vanished from mass media in the western world, or at least in Brazil. A friend of mine in Iran has almost been arrested. Do any of the organisations you represent, particularly Equal Rights Now, have privileged access to information on what is happening there? How great is the support for democracy and secularism in Iran?
Maryam Namazie: News on the situation in Iran may have vanished but the protests are ongoing; people use any excuse to come out and show their opposition. The fraudulent election was one such case as everyone knows elections in Iran are not elections by any standards. I think the protests are not one off riots but the reflection of an unfolding revolution in Iran – one that could herald a new dawn for the country and the world.
Many of the organisations I am involved with – including the 24 hour New Channel TV – which is constantly being jammed by the Islamic regime of Iran because of its importance and the Worker-communist Party of Iran have wide reaching contacts within Iran. In fact New Channel TV has millions of viewers and receives hundreds of calls a day from Iran. The message coming out of Iran is very clear if one cares to listen and that is that the days of the Islamic regime are numbered and that people want nothing less than to drag Iran into the 21st century.
LiHS: What do you do in your everyday time in order to live a happy and interesting life, beside your tireless efforts to promote human rights and secularism in the world?
Maryam Namazie: I have a four year old son, which is the best thing that has ever happened to me. If I had known how wonderful it is to have children I would have had many more but unfortunately it’s a bit late for me to have a large family given that I am 43 now. I also have a wonderful partner and loving family and friends, which I think are so important. A lot of my personal time goes into being with my family but when I can I love to watch movies (sadly I love any romantic comedy no matter how cheesy) or music videos, dance, and I could sit in a café all day every day and not tire of watching people passing by.
LiHS: What is the role of science in your worldview? Does it have anything to do with your views about Islam and Christianity? What in your opinion is the common evil between Islam, Christianity and other religions?
Maryam Namazie: Science represents free inquiry, improvement, and human advancement whereas religion represents dogma, medievalism and regression. I think all religions are the same – Islam only matters more now because it is linked to a political movement.
LiHS: Do you think atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and sceptics from Latin America as ourselves could help you in any of your causes? How?
Maryam Namazie: Of course – I mean where would we be without the support of civilised humanity everywhere? There are so many ways to help too – and every act of support however small is appreciated and crucial for us. It could be anything from signing up to our campaigns, donating to our cause, volunteering, including by translating our materials, publicising our work in the Latin American media and amongst people and organisations there and so on. On November 21, we are organising a rally against Sharia and religious laws in Britain and in support of secularism and equal rights. We are asking people to stand with us in city centres across the globe to support our action. It doesn’t have to be very big – even a few people holding a banner or a placard saying no to Sharia and religious laws. We would post the various actions with any photographs on our website. Maybe some of your readers might be able to do something in support of our rally on November 21?
LiHS: Would you come to Brazil for a possible future meeting of freethinkers and human rights activists? We promise we wouldn't let Catholics baptise you.
Maryam Namazie: Oh well then, yes I would love to. I will go anywhere I am invited to share information and meet friends but also to confront opponents – and what better place than Brazil. I’m not too worried about being baptised – after all it means nothing to me – and in any case the National Secular Society has a debaptism certificate if I need it!
LiHS: Do you have any other advice for LiHS as a starting secular humanist organisation in Brazil?
Maryam Namazie: I wish you all the success in the world – I think it is hugely important for all of us to have an organisation like yours in Brazil. Even newly formed and small organisations can make a world of difference so keep at it. You have all our support and warm wishes and please do call on us if there is anything we can do to help.
LiHS: Maryam Namazie, it's been a great pleasure talking to you. You are surely one of the most admirable women in the world, and we look forward to hearing from you many times in the future.
Maryam Namazie: That’s very kind of you to say. It has been a pleasure and I know we will be working together for many years to come.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Political Prisoner Ehsan Fattahian executed today in Iran
According to reliable sources in Iran, political prisoner Ehsan Fattahian was hanged in Sanandaj today.
Despite campaigns on his behalf, he was executed in Sanandaj prison this morning.
Iran Solidarity sends its condolences to Fattahian's family and loved ones, unequivocally condemns the Islamic regime of Iran and calls for a stepping up of efforts to end the death penalty in Iran and everywhere once and for all.
Despite campaigns on his behalf, he was executed in Sanandaj prison this morning.
Iran Solidarity sends its condolences to Fattahian's family and loved ones, unequivocally condemns the Islamic regime of Iran and calls for a stepping up of efforts to end the death penalty in Iran and everywhere once and for all.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
I have never feared death: Ehsan Fattahian
The last glimmers of the dusk sun
Are showing me the path on which to write;
The sounds of leaves under my steps
Are telling me “let yourself fall
And you will rediscover the path to freedom.”
I never feared death. Even now, as I feel its odd and honest presence next to me, I still want to smell its aroma and rediscover it; Death, who has been the most ancient companion of this land. I don’t want to talk about death; I want to question the reasons behind it. Today, when punishment is the answer for those who seek freedom and justice, how can one fear his fate? Those of “us” who have been sentenced to death by “them” are only guilty of seeking an opening to a better and fair world. Are “they” also aware of their deeds?
I started my life in the city of Kermanshah, the name of which has always been on the tongues of my compatriots for its greatness; the city which is called the cradle of civilization. As my thoughts were developing, I came to see and feel the injustice and discrimination; an injustice that targeted me not only as an individual but also as a member of humankind. I went in thousand different directions to find out the reasons behind injustice. Alas, they had made the arena so closed for those who were thriving for justice that I could not find my way in. I immigrated to another arena outside the superficial boundaries to find answers to my questions. I became a Komeleh guerilla in order to find my stolen identity. Yet I never separated from my first home, and once in a while I returned there to renew my memories. And then one day, they found me during one of my visits, arrested me and put me in a cage. The greeting my captors reserved for me from day one convinced me that my fate would be similar to those who had walked before me along that road: torture, fabricated charges, biased court, an unjust and politically motivated verdict and finally death.
Let me put it this way: after being arrested on July 20th, 2008, in Kamyaran, I was taken to the Intelligence Ministry’s local office. A few hours later, as I was blindfolded and chained and could not see or move, a person who introduced himself as the deputy prosecutor began questioning me. His questions were irrelevant and filled with made up accusations (let me remind you that it is strictly against the law to interrogate people in places other than courts and tribunals). This was the first of many interrogation sessions I had to face. The same night, I was taken to the Intelligence Ministry’s provincial headquarters in Sanandaj, where I had to attend the real party: a dirty cell with a disgusting washroom. The blankets had not been washed for years. This was the beginning of three months of going up and down the hall from my cell to the interrogation room, always being beaten along the way. The honorable interrogators were so keen to get a promotion or make a bit more money that they accused me of all kinds of bizarre things, even though they knew of the falsehood of their accusation. They used every means in their power to prove that I had taken part in armed operations. In the end they could only prove that I had been a member of Komeleh and had taken part in propaganda activities against the regime. The 10 year sentence handed by the initial court is good proof that I only had one charge. The 1st branch of the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj sentenced me to 10 years in prison, to be served in Ramhormoz Prison outside Kordestan. The political and administrative establishment in Iran has always been in favor of centralized policies, but, apparently, in my case, they had decided to reverse course! Recently provincial appeals courts have become the judicial authority to rule in cases related to political prisoners, even in capital punishment cases. Capital punishment cases were the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. So, the Kamayaran prosecutor objected the initial ruling, and, surprisingly, against Iranian law, the 4th branch of the Kordestan Appeals Court changed the 10 year sentence to a death sentence. According to Article 258 of Iranian Criminal law, appeals courts can only issue a heavier sentence when the initial sentence is lighter than the minimum punishment required by law. The indictment presented by the prosecutor stated the charge as Moharebeh (enmity against God). The minimum punishment required by law in similar cases is 1 year in prison. Now, be the judge yourself and compare the 10 year prison sentence (served in exile) with the minimum required to see how illegal, unlawful and political the death sentence is.
Let me add that, shortly before my sentence was changed to the death sentence, I was taken from Sanandaj prison to the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center, where I was asked to make a false confession on camera, show remorse for the actions I had not committed and reject my beliefs. I did not give in to their illegitimate demands, so I was told that my prison sentence would be changed to the death sentence. They were fast to keep their promise and prove to me how courts always concede to the demands of intelligence and non-judicial authorities. How can one criticize the courts then?
All judges take an oath to remain impartial at all times and in all cases, to rule according to the law and nothing but the law. How many of the judges of this country can say that they have not broken their oath and have remained fair and impartial? In my opinion the number is countable with the fingers on my hand. When the entire justice system in Iran orders arrests, trials, imprisonments and death sentences with the simple hand gesture of an uneducated interrogator, what is to be expected from a few minor judges in a province that has always been discriminated against? Yes, in my view, it is the foundation of the house which is in ruins.
Last time I met in prison with the prosecutor who had issued the initial indictment, he admitted that the ruling was illegal. Yet, for the second time, it has been ruled that my execution should be carried out. It goes without saying that the insistence to carry out the execution at any cost is a result of pressures exercised by political and intelligence groups outside the Judiciary. People who are part of these groups look at the question of life and death of a prisoner only based on their own political and financial interests. They cannot see anything but their own illegitimate objectives, even when it is the question of a person’s right to life - the most basic of all human rights. How pointless is it to expect them to respect international treaties when they don’t even respect their own laws?
Last word: if the rulers and oppressors think that, with my death, the Kurdish question will go away, they are wrong. My death and the deaths of thousands of others like me will not cure the pain; they will only add to the flames of this fire. There is no doubt that every death is the beginning of a new life.
Ehsan Fattahian
Sanandaj Central Prison
Are showing me the path on which to write;
The sounds of leaves under my steps
Are telling me “let yourself fall
And you will rediscover the path to freedom.”
I never feared death. Even now, as I feel its odd and honest presence next to me, I still want to smell its aroma and rediscover it; Death, who has been the most ancient companion of this land. I don’t want to talk about death; I want to question the reasons behind it. Today, when punishment is the answer for those who seek freedom and justice, how can one fear his fate? Those of “us” who have been sentenced to death by “them” are only guilty of seeking an opening to a better and fair world. Are “they” also aware of their deeds?
I started my life in the city of Kermanshah, the name of which has always been on the tongues of my compatriots for its greatness; the city which is called the cradle of civilization. As my thoughts were developing, I came to see and feel the injustice and discrimination; an injustice that targeted me not only as an individual but also as a member of humankind. I went in thousand different directions to find out the reasons behind injustice. Alas, they had made the arena so closed for those who were thriving for justice that I could not find my way in. I immigrated to another arena outside the superficial boundaries to find answers to my questions. I became a Komeleh guerilla in order to find my stolen identity. Yet I never separated from my first home, and once in a while I returned there to renew my memories. And then one day, they found me during one of my visits, arrested me and put me in a cage. The greeting my captors reserved for me from day one convinced me that my fate would be similar to those who had walked before me along that road: torture, fabricated charges, biased court, an unjust and politically motivated verdict and finally death.
Let me put it this way: after being arrested on July 20th, 2008, in Kamyaran, I was taken to the Intelligence Ministry’s local office. A few hours later, as I was blindfolded and chained and could not see or move, a person who introduced himself as the deputy prosecutor began questioning me. His questions were irrelevant and filled with made up accusations (let me remind you that it is strictly against the law to interrogate people in places other than courts and tribunals). This was the first of many interrogation sessions I had to face. The same night, I was taken to the Intelligence Ministry’s provincial headquarters in Sanandaj, where I had to attend the real party: a dirty cell with a disgusting washroom. The blankets had not been washed for years. This was the beginning of three months of going up and down the hall from my cell to the interrogation room, always being beaten along the way. The honorable interrogators were so keen to get a promotion or make a bit more money that they accused me of all kinds of bizarre things, even though they knew of the falsehood of their accusation. They used every means in their power to prove that I had taken part in armed operations. In the end they could only prove that I had been a member of Komeleh and had taken part in propaganda activities against the regime. The 10 year sentence handed by the initial court is good proof that I only had one charge. The 1st branch of the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj sentenced me to 10 years in prison, to be served in Ramhormoz Prison outside Kordestan. The political and administrative establishment in Iran has always been in favor of centralized policies, but, apparently, in my case, they had decided to reverse course! Recently provincial appeals courts have become the judicial authority to rule in cases related to political prisoners, even in capital punishment cases. Capital punishment cases were the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. So, the Kamayaran prosecutor objected the initial ruling, and, surprisingly, against Iranian law, the 4th branch of the Kordestan Appeals Court changed the 10 year sentence to a death sentence. According to Article 258 of Iranian Criminal law, appeals courts can only issue a heavier sentence when the initial sentence is lighter than the minimum punishment required by law. The indictment presented by the prosecutor stated the charge as Moharebeh (enmity against God). The minimum punishment required by law in similar cases is 1 year in prison. Now, be the judge yourself and compare the 10 year prison sentence (served in exile) with the minimum required to see how illegal, unlawful and political the death sentence is.
Let me add that, shortly before my sentence was changed to the death sentence, I was taken from Sanandaj prison to the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center, where I was asked to make a false confession on camera, show remorse for the actions I had not committed and reject my beliefs. I did not give in to their illegitimate demands, so I was told that my prison sentence would be changed to the death sentence. They were fast to keep their promise and prove to me how courts always concede to the demands of intelligence and non-judicial authorities. How can one criticize the courts then?
All judges take an oath to remain impartial at all times and in all cases, to rule according to the law and nothing but the law. How many of the judges of this country can say that they have not broken their oath and have remained fair and impartial? In my opinion the number is countable with the fingers on my hand. When the entire justice system in Iran orders arrests, trials, imprisonments and death sentences with the simple hand gesture of an uneducated interrogator, what is to be expected from a few minor judges in a province that has always been discriminated against? Yes, in my view, it is the foundation of the house which is in ruins.
Last time I met in prison with the prosecutor who had issued the initial indictment, he admitted that the ruling was illegal. Yet, for the second time, it has been ruled that my execution should be carried out. It goes without saying that the insistence to carry out the execution at any cost is a result of pressures exercised by political and intelligence groups outside the Judiciary. People who are part of these groups look at the question of life and death of a prisoner only based on their own political and financial interests. They cannot see anything but their own illegitimate objectives, even when it is the question of a person’s right to life - the most basic of all human rights. How pointless is it to expect them to respect international treaties when they don’t even respect their own laws?
Last word: if the rulers and oppressors think that, with my death, the Kurdish question will go away, they are wrong. My death and the deaths of thousands of others like me will not cure the pain; they will only add to the flames of this fire. There is no doubt that every death is the beginning of a new life.
Ehsan Fattahian
Sanandaj Central Prison
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