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Humanist delegations defend rights of atheists at United Nations

Jun 10

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Source: iheu.org

umanists at the United Nations have coordinated a series of speeches on human rights issues affecting atheists and those accused of professing atheism.

In joint statements to the Human Rights council last week (5 June 2013), representatives of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), the British Humanist Association (BHA) and Center for Inquiry (CFI) attacked calls for the death penalty for bloggers in Morocco and Bangladesh and demanded that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran takes immediate, active steps to eliminate the widespread practice of torture in its institutions.

Kacem El Ghazzali is a secularist blogger sometimes described as Morocco’s first openly, self-professed atheist. He has been living recently in Switzerland as a refuge. As a guest representative of the IHEU delegation in the previous session of the Human Rights Council asked Morocco’s representatives “Why must I be killed?”.

In last week’s session El Ghazali again criticised his home state of Morocco for unconstitutionally silencing the voices of atheists, asking “How can a non-believer living in Morocco raise his voice? Why are calls to murder apostates and free thinkers allowed when the constitution is supposed to protect the human rights of everyone?”

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Posted in Secularism

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Childish Left and Islamophobia

May 2

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The right wing wants to use the prevalence of the dark side of the religion (an unfortunate fact) in order to achieve its objectives: expel all immigrants, and “purify” the country..

The left wing, supposedly the protectors of human rights and universal values, adopt the opposite view, and ignore the elephant in the room, preferring to retort the same cassette over and over about “Islam the peaceful religion”, and how those who oppose Islamists are just islamophobic, xenophobic and the sort, ignoring the real problem and preferring the ostrich policy of burying their heads in the sand, than to face it..
Their position probably comes from the naive notion that if the right wing says something, then the opposite of it must be true..

and the right wing unfortunately, given their principles and objectives, would be the first to notice a threat to the integrity of their “beloved nation”, so, we would expect the right wing to adopt their position first, and the left to simply react to it.. what they don’t realize is that in some sense they are being manipulated by the right, and falling into their trap (whether that was meant from the beginning or not), because as the problems caused by Islamists will grow, more and more people will become less immune to the right wing discourse…

So the left must sit down for a moment and define its own independent views based on a rational understanding of the situation, and not a mere emotional and childish reaction to the right wing discourse.. When I first came to Switzerland, I tried to work with the left wing group, but in their eyes I was a young Islamophobe, as if defending myself against those who want us dead is Islamophobia?

Posted in Secularism, Switzerland, Uncategorized

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Morocco’s Islamist PM: it’s unacceptable to criticize the Prophet Muhammad

Apr 30

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Morocco’s Islamist prime minister says it’s unacceptable to criticize the Prophet Muhammad, entering a war of words between a secular activist and hardline Salafists that has strained the balance between freedom of expression and religious sensitivities.
Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane took a not-so-veiled swipe at secular activist Ahmed Assid at a party rally late Saturday in Rabat. While not mentioning Assid by name, Benkirane said respect must be given to the overwhelmingly Muslim country’s values. and everyone should let the world understand that Morocco is a Muslim state and was built and developed by Islam through centuries of history.

At least one Salafist leader retorted that Assid was trying to paint Muhammad as a terrorist — a claim Assid denies — and called Assid an “unbeliever,” which could be seen as an incitement to violence.

Ahmed Assid said in a statement front of a national conference of a Human Rights NGO in Rabat:  religious education in Morocco ” is now outdated, and teaches religious values that contradict universal values that of Human rights”. He added that the message of Islam taught to young people in school textbooks is “terroristic”. The religious education emphasizes values that go back to when Islam was “spread by the sword” during the time of prophet Mohamed.

Back to my days in Morocco, I remember when Facebook closed our group on Facebook “Youth for the separation of Religion from Education “ 30556_1463801996075_1264250498_31334866_6762860_n , at that time,  I was running together with other bloggers and activists from Morocco and some Arab countries a campaign advocating that religious teachings be discarded from pre-college educational programs, by replacing the subject «Islamic education» by «Humanistic education». condemning the religious inculcation of the young which consecrates religious myths, superstition and fundamentalism. and to put an end for religious political currents which attempt to kill reason and creativity, and encourage terrorism. Also, putting an end to a long-standing epidemic of fundamentalism and brainwashing in order to cut down all bridges for terrorism and despotism factories.

We were simply calling for a modern, democratic, and rational educational system, that respects religious diversity and freedom of belief, I wonder what have been achieved since then? …

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Morocco: religious institution, led by king Mohammed VI issued Fatwa to kill apostates

Apr 20

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A fatwa published this week by Morocco’s Higher Council of Religious Scholars (CSO) calling for the death penalty for Muslims who renounce their faith has sparked fierce controversy in the country.

The scholars, who represent official Islam in Morocco, said in their edict, published in Tuesday’s edition of Arabic-language daily Akhbar al-Youm, that Muslims who reject their faith “should be condemned to death.”

The fatwa, which has provoked strong reactions, dates back to April 2012 when a legal report was being prepared by the government, but it was not published at the time, according to local media.

The CSO is a government institution, led by the king Mohammed VI, in his capacity as Commander of the Faithful, is enshrined in the Constitution in Article 41 as “the only body empowered to impose religious consultations (fatwas). and counts among its members the ministry of Islamic affairs.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs declined to comment on the issue.

Sheikh Mohamed Fizazi, symbolic figure of the hardline Salafi, which has already expressed its intention to form a political party, rushed to thank the Council of Ulema for this fatwa which he said is an absolute truth and does not suffer every nuance.

The (CSO)  latter has recently published a book which includes this Fatwa, explains that verses in Quran such as (  there is no compulsion in religion, as per the Koran (2:256) ) are  not for the ones who were born as Muslims ( from Muslim parents ) but for none Muslims living in a Muslim country.

 The Fatwa was based on the Hadiths of Sahih al-Bukhari, the most reliable collection: Bukhari 52:260 (the Prophet said, ‘If somebody [a Muslim] discards his religion, kill him’) and Bukhari 83:37 (By Allah, Allah’s Apostle never killed anyone except in one of the following three situations: [1] A person who killed somebody unjustly, was killed [2] a married person who committed illegal sexual intercourse and [3] a man who fought against Allah and His Apostle and deserted Islam and became an apostate) and Bukhari 84:57 (statement of Allah’s Apostle, ‘Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him’)and more.

Morocco’s state religion is Islam. Whilst Article 3 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, atheists and unbelievers are not recognized. Though apostasy is not a prosecutable offense in the Penal Code, “incitements in order to shake the faith of a Muslim” are. Apostates and atheists face harassment, threats or imprisonment if they speak out.

I consider this Fatwa as a direct invitation to commit murder and assassination, and may be an umbrella for the implementation of political assassinations, it’s enough today to say that someone is an apostate from Islam to justify killing him, and I’m surprised that it comes from a constitutional institution, While the Moroccan regime talks about the new constitution and the series of reforms and change in Morocco. ‬

Posted in Liberties, Morocco

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My statement at UN : Discrimination against atheists in Morocco

Maroccan Atheist asks; “Why must I be killed?”

In 2010, found myself threatened with death for declaring my atheism and expressing my doubts about Islam on my blogs.

Three years later, having been hounded out of my country into exile in Switzerland I had the chance to put my question directly to the Maroccan delegation at the United Nations. Speaking as an IHEU representative at the Human Rights Council:

Mr President
I am from a religious minority, I am an atheist. But as a result of publicly declaring my atheism I had to flee my native Morocco in fear of my life and seek refuge in Switzerland.
In 2010 I[1] was a victim of death threats, of physical violence, and of discrimination by agents of the State.
After posting several articles on the internet about my atheism and why I decided to leave Islam, I began to receive death threats, and people started to circulate my photo and address, calling on people to kill me. These threats were echoed by a public school teacher, who told students that I was an apostate atheist, showed them my videos and blogs, and said that I should be punished according to Islamic law – in other words, I should be killed. This was followed by demonstration against me in which the police refused to intervene. Instead I was taken from my home at night for interrogation by people who identified themselves as secret policemen.
When I tried to file a complaint against the teacher they refused to take up the case, saying it would be better to remove my blogs and apologise, and that they could easily arrest me because of a case taken out against me by an Islamic association. They added that declaring my atheism was the same as criticizing and insulting the king which under the constitution was considered to be blasphemy.[2]
May I, through this Council, ask the government of Morocco why, under the Constitution, is no atheist allowed to be a citizen? Why does the Constitution insist that anyone with an Islamic name must be a Muslim?” And why should an atheist be threatened with death?
Thank you Sir.

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Morocco: Freedom of/from religion

Mar 2

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During the last year, 5 people got arrested for breaking the fast publicly during Ramadan, Le Figaro reported the case of one young man who was sentenced to 3 months jail “This young man was arrested by police while he was eating publicly in the medina (old town, note) in Rabat. Article 222 of the Moroccan Penal Code punishes public rupture of fasting during the month of Ramadan a sentence of up to six months in prison.”

An other case in Casablanca of a young man who was arrested due to some Facebook posts which considered to be offensive to the Muslims prophet Mohamed. and there is no details about his trail except some news articles about the arrest in the Moroccan media.

Imad a Moroccan Atheist who is facing several threats by the police and the people in his community told me” we can’t find infos when someone act without creating a network of people first”

Personally I phoned several times to the journalists reporting these cases to ask for further information or if there is anyway to get in touch with these people or their families, but with no response.

criticizing Islam in Morocco, the state religion. is like criticizing and insulting the king [who as commander in chief and commander of the faithful who no one can criticize] since any negative comments about him are considered to be blasphemy under the Constitution.

In less than two weeks ill be speaking at the Human Rights council under Agenda Item 4: Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention. there i will highlight the abuses against the freedom of/from belief in Morocco and ill ask : Why, under the Moroccan Constitution, is no atheist allowed to be a citizen? And why does the Constitution insist that anyone with an Islamic name must be a Muslim?

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Moroccan human rights activist Kacem El Ghazzali at 2013 Geneva Summit for Human Rights

Feb 22

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Here is a short debate after the speech:

Posted in Liberties, Switzerland

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Switzerland or Afghanistan?

Jan 26

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Kacem El Ghazzali

No one doubts that the first victims of Islamic law are Muslims, Every day the rights and freedoms of millions of Muslims are violated in the name of Islam and the laws of Allah, you can choose between being a citizen of a secular state like Switzerland, where civil law guarantees you the right to a decent life with dignity and freedom. Or to live in an Islamic emirate like Somalia or Afghanistan, where the name of Allah is above all, and the application of Sharia law rules everything .

Many proponents of political Islam today are trying to make Sharia law as the main source in the organization of the state and the first reference for all laws. From here we have the right to ask those, why millions of our youth flee in dangerous trips, with a 1 % chance to survive and live in the other land towards secular and infidel West? Instead of taking their destination to the villages and mountains of Afghanistan, where legs and hands are being cut, and women stoned under the application of divine justice?

Why Muslims have the right to build mosques, and focus tents in the streets of major European capitals to call non-muslims for converting to Islam, and to call for the application of Islamic law, at the same time, where they prevent the Moroccan, Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan… atheist from announcing his lack of faith, to find the society united, by its politicians, clerics, and citizens… all of them united to persecute those who chose to give up Islamic religion or profess other?

This makes us front of the following fact: Muslims are living with the illusion of an absolute and assertive believing that they have a power of attorney from the sky to make all people dress like them, pray with them in the same line, and believe exactly in what they believe in, the case which prevents any attempt to understand recognition the other. while ensuring her/his right to disagree, whether it is about faith or not .

At the conclusion of these lines, you will have the full choice, either to live in a country like Switzerland that guarantees you all your rights or you vote for the political program which cuts your parts on the Guillotin of Muslim Brotherhood in Somalia or Afghanistan.

Posted in Switzerland

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My book’s cover

Nov 15

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Posted in Uncategorized

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Ex-Muslims in Switzerland completely refuse to allow sheikh Al Arifi to make public lectures on Swiss soil.

Nov 11

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 Press Release:

The Association of Ex-Muslims in Switzerland is noticing, with much interest and admiration, the margin of freedom granted by the Swiss authorities to the majority of institutions, civil organizations, and political movements to express their views and advocate their principles in an environment of respect of all views and intellectual and religious vocations.

But at the same time, we express our concern and our absolute refusal of any tolerance in any form with those who try to use this sacred right to free speech in order to spread words of hatred and violence, and ideas that are against human rights and dignity, as they have been set by the Swiss Constitution, and all international treaties and conventions dealing with human rights.

We were surprised when we saw the list, published by the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland, of the guests invited to attend its annual meeting, which will be organized in Fribourg on Saturday 15, December 2012, featuring many Salafist and Wahhabi figures known for their extremist views opposing women’s and minorities rights, ideas that we believe must not be tolerated along with those who express them, nor should one participate in advocating them in any way.

One of the main guests to the meeting is the Saudi sheikh Mohamed Al Arifi, famous for his controversial fatwas, namely his declaration during a TV interview that there’s no lower age limit to the marriage of girls in Islam. He also stated on Ar-Rissala TV, sponsored by the Saudi Ministry of Religious Endowments, that women in the West marry dogs and donkeys, that 54% of women in Denmark don’t know the identity of the fathers of their children. He also spoke on many TV programs about men beating women in Islam, and even explained how the beating should be done with proof from Islamic scripture and Tradition. Al Arifi is also known for his antisemitism, and great hatred for Jews.

This why we declare the following to the Swiss people:

 

  • We completely refuse to allow sheikh Al Arifi to make public lectures on Swiss soil.

 

  • We call for Swiss authorities to intervene urgently and take necessary measures to prevent that.

 

  • We wish to emphasize on the fact that the ideas of Al Arifi and other Salafists will thwart the integration of immigrant Muslims in society, and destabilize the peaceful co-existence, characterizing Swiss society with its various intellectual and religious vocations.

 

  • We ask the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland to remove the name of Al Arifi from the list of their guests on their website and their public page on facebook.

Kacem El Ghazali President of the Association of Ex-Muslims in Switzerland

Posted in Switzerland

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