Bahram Soroush protesting Islamic regime of Iran's presence at the ILO

See below photos and new coverage of Bahram Soroush, member of Worker-communist Party of Iran, in Geneva, Switzerland at the opening of the 100th ILO Conference on 1 June 2011, calling for the expulsion of the Islamic Republic from the ILO.



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We don't want hijab and sexual apartheid at the Olympics!

See an article in Standpoint Magazine by Julie Bindel about the great Olympic cover up. It says:

Maryam Namazie, an Iranian feminist based in London, is a founder of One Law for All, a campaign against the use of Sharia in Britain. She is "appalled" at the non-application of Olympic Charter principles in relation to women. She argues that men-only delegations should be excluded and the IOC should not support the Iranian games devoted to Islamic women only. "Allowing women to be veiled and segregated at the Olympics is like telling black athletes to compete in a separate arena," she says. "Separate is nothing short of unequal and defeats the whole purpose of the Olympics."

Dublin to host first atheist conference

Here's an article in the Irish Times about the atheist conference I will be speaking at this Sunday.

Maryam will be speaking at European Atheist Conference in Dublin on 5 June

I'll be speaking on building secular coalitions in the morning and giving a keynote address from 12.30-1.15pm on Sunday 5 June at the European Atheist Conference in Dublin. For more information, click here.

Maryam Namazie speaking at Howthelightgetsin 2011 philosophy and music festival at Hay

Saturday 4 June 2011
10:30am
Venue: International Tent

Philosophy Session - The Scimitar's Edge
Lauren Booth, Iain Edgar, Maryam Namazie. Mary Ann Sieghart chairs.
Islam is the most widely discussed religion in the West. Is its 'success' due to its beliefs, its certainty or its function as a political force? AreIslamic values compatible with western liberalism and should we be weary of or embrace its influence?

Journalist, reality TV star and Muslim convert Lauren Booth, Islam scholar Iain Edgar and Director of the Ex-Muslim Council Maryam Namazie examine the reasons behind Islam's success.

Saturday 4 June 2011
2:00pm
Venue: Talk Tent

Philosophy Session - The Islamist Inquisition
Maryam Namazie
Iranian refugee, broadcaster and Director of the ex-Muslim Council, Maryam Namazie, examines how we are best able to deal with threat from radical Islamism in our globalised world.
'One of the most important feminists from the developing world' - Guardian

June speaking engagements

I'll be speaking on Sharia law and Islam in Hay on Wye, Dublin, Lymington, Genoa, and Newcastle in June, including at Howthelightgetsin Festival and European Atheist Conference. Join me if you can. Anne Marie Waters will also be speaking in Dublin on the blaspehmy laws.

By the way, One Law for All is holding a debate on Sharia law at the houses of parliament on 28 June.

See our website for more information on any of the above.

And they say only Islam is anti-woman...

A Jewish newspaper airbrushed Hillary Clinton from the photo of White House staff watching the mission to assassinate Osama Bin Laden because

- wait for it -

they don't print photos of women!

And they say it is only Islam that is anti-woman...

See the article on it here.

The outrageous executions of brothers Abdullah and Mohammad Fathi

On 18 May hundreds of people went to pay respects to the mother and spouses and families of the two brothers executed on 17 May. Mohammad and Abdullah Fathi, aged 27 and 28 years old, were hurriedly executed as Moharebeh [Waging War Against God] in Isfahan in the early hours of the morning by the slaughter house that is the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Hear their mother's heartwrenching plea (in Persian) to save their lives a day before they were executed:



Hear Mina Ahadi's brilliant piece (in Persian) in defense of the two brothers and against executions and the 'reformists' that excuse their cold-blooded murder:



Here is an interview with the brilliant Hamid Taqvaee against executions and also the judicial system in Iran (in Persian):

Muslim music artist and activist speaks out against honour killings

Norwegian born music producer and activist Deeyah, in association with friends, volunteers and supporters, starts an online place of remembrance for victims of honour killings.

Deeyah is a critically acclaimed singer, composer, music producer from Norway and a prize winning human rights activist. 

Born to immigrant parents of Pashtun and Punjabi descent, Deeyah encountered harassment throughout her music career and knows first-hand what it feels like to be threatened for stepping outside cultural ‘norms’.

Having worked within human rights for many years Deeyah is passionate about protesting against killings in the name of ‘honour’ – where young women are murdered for making decisions about their life including choice of marriage partner, education, divorce, clothing and the expression of sexuality:

"Today honour killings are seen across religious communities and are not limited to one group only. The oppression and violence against women in the name of honour, culture or religion is rife around the world in strictly patriarchal societies and communities. Honour killings take over 5000 lives a year. 

The perpetrators of these honour motivated crimes want all signs of the lives of these young women to be completely wiped out-- almost as if these young women never existed in the first place. Through MEMINI, we humbly hope to do our small part in acknowledging the existence of these women and honouring their memory". –Deeyah

MEMINI is an entirely volunteer driven initiative where wonderful individuals are helping by donating their time to help support this online place of remembrance. MEMINI is dedicated to keeping the memory of these women alive and we invite you to join us in our mission.

Please help spread the word about MEMINI.  We are always looking for writing and research volunteers, if you would like to join us, please email MEMINI.

Join MEMINI on FACEBOOK

International Committee against Stoning's visit to Brazil

A delegation from the International Committee against Stoning, spearheaded by its spokesperson Mina Ahadi, was invited by Millenium Institute to come to Brazil for a series of engagements.

The focus of the trip was the case of Sakineh Ashtiani and the gross human rights violations in Iran. The delegation had several high profile meetings with Brazilian politicians and dozens of interviews with print, TV and radio journalists. Mina Ahadi took part in a conference and gave a seminar on human rights in the Middle East.

São Paulo

The tour started in São Paulo with a speaking engagement at the 2nd Forum on Democracy and Freedom on Tuesday 3 May. The day-long conference saw five panels debating issues such as freedom, human rights, state capitalism, accountability of the media, democracy and citizenship. The panellists were diplomats, economists, journalists, political scientists, lawyers and representatives of human rights organisations.

Brasilia

Mina Ahadi was invited to the capital Brasilia for several meetings with government politicians. Arriving at the human rights offices, the first meeting was with Special Secretary for Human Rights, Maria do Rosário who was accompanied by Fábio Balestro Floriano, director of the Department of International Relations at the Secretariat of Human Rights.

Ms do Rosário expressed her and president’s Dilma Rousseff’s solidarity with women facing violence and stated that they are ready for an open dialogue with Mina Ahadi and her work. Mina Ahadi talked about the suffering and fear of those mothers and fathers whose children will be executed any day, as well as of the anguish of children whose parents have already been executed. She talked about the situation of Sakineh Ashtiani and her lawyer Houtan Kian, both of whom are still imprisoned and still face execution.

Numerous newspapers and TV channels interviewed Mina Ahadi on her life and work, the case of Sakineh Ashtiani, Osama Bin Laden’s assassination as well as the Brazilian government’s foreign policies with the Iranian regime.

Mina Ahadi gave a 20 minute speech on the human rights violations in Iran and the case of Sakineh Ashtiani. She then took part in the panel on ‘democracy, freedom and human rights’ together with Javier El-Hage, director of the Human Rights Foundation and moderated by Paulo Uebel, director of Millenium Institute Maria do Rosário stressed the Brazilian government’s willingness to not only support the victims of human rights violations but to also save them.

Ms do Rosário said that ‘execution is always a horror’ and that stoning is ‘unacceptable’. The delegation was then seen by Senator Paulo Paim, the chairman of the Brazilian Senate’s Commission on Human Rights and Participative Legislation. In their conversation Mina Ahadi talked about the wave of executions over the last six months and human rights violations in Iran. Senator Paim stated that the fight against violence is an ‘ongoing fight’.

Ms Ahadi asked the Commission to approve a resolution condemning any act that violates human rights, especially against women and with a specific condemnation of stoning in Iran. The senator promised to present the resolution in the plenary of the Commission with the voting results being made public.

A press conference in the lobby of the Palácio do Planalto followed that was attended by dozens of media outlets. The journalists asked questions about Ms Ahadi’s meeting with the politicians and how she sees the foreign policy of the Brazilian government past and present.

The last meeting of the day was in the Palácio do Planalto (Presidential Palace) with Marco Aurélio Garcia, Special Advisor on Foreign Affairs to the president.

Mina Ahadi brought up the close relation the previous president Lula da Silva and Ahmadinejad had and the stern condemnation it had caused within the Iranian population and opposition movement.

Ms Ahadi spoke about the late night, secret phone calls she gets, sometimes directly from those imprisoned, asking her for help to save them from execution. She appealed to Garcia and the government to continue towards a clear stance on human rights.

Ms Ahadi said: ‘The meetings today were very important. I want to declare here that we have a fascist, Islamic regime in Iran that should be isolated by the rest of the world’. Ms Ahadi talked about how the ‘Facebook generation’ was observing the government’s actions closely and that they were encouraged when president Rousseff spoke out against stoning, commenting that ‘Ahmadinejad’s last friend’ had abandoned him now.

Rio de Janeiro

On Friday, 6 May a seminar entitled ‘Human Rights in the Middle East’ was held at IBMEC University in Rio de Janeiro at which Ms Ahadi was the main speaker. The seminar was moderated by Leonardo Paz and Paulo Uebel from Millenium Institute was also on the panel. The talk centred on Ms Ahadi’s life and her work to save women and men from execution, especially stoning, and the life of people in Iran under the Islamic Republic.

The talk was followed by a Q& A session. The seminar was attended by over a hundred students, professors and journalists and was followed by interviews and private talks.

Ms Ahadi stated that she was very happy about the meetings and expressed her hopes that the Brazilian government would sever its diplomatic relations with Iran and continue the promising path the government had taken up recently with a clear stance on human rights. She said: ‘The very fact that we were meeting government officials today already sends a strong signal to Ahmadinejad and the Islamic regime’.

In all her meetings Mina Ahadi talked about the big movement for freedom and human rights in Iran that fights against the barbaric Islamic regime and she urged the Brazilian government to support the people in Iran and not the regime.

For more information on ICAS and Mina Ahadi go to ICAS website.

ICAS needs your support to continue our work. Please make a donation. (please earmark your donation ICAS )

You can contact ICAS and Mina Ahadi via email: minaahadi@aol.com or call 0049 (0) 177 5692413.