Submitted by Maryam Namazie. For more information, please contact her at: m.namazie@onelawforall.org.uk. On 7 January, Iran executed another two young men on charges of ‘spreading corruption on earth’ during the morning call to prayers. This time it was Mohammad Mehdi Karami, 21, a karate champion and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, 20, a volunteer children’s coach. Within weeks of being arrested and convicted, the two were executed after being tortured to elicit false confessions and denied the rights to an attorney or appeal. Their families were not permitted to see them before they were killed ..read more

Introduction All around the world, Atheists and non-religious people face increasing number of risks every day for holding opinions that distances itself from beliefs in God or some form of higher power. Criticizing religion has recently shown to be one sure way of putting one’s self in danger. The case of Mubarak Bala being charged in Nigeria for disturbing public peace over alleged blasphemous remarks made, or the attack on Salman Rushdie in New York for his 1988 book and the recent bogus charge of terrorism on Haiballah Okboui are all clear instances of the ridiculous steps religious people ..read more

In October 2020, a mob combined of Muslim and Hindu extremists staged protest rallies demanding the arrest and death penalty of Mohammed Alam, a secular activist from the Panchagar district of Bangladesh. He was accused of defaming both Muslim and Hindu faiths on social media. He was severely beaten and threatened with death. Law enforcement authorities, instead of insuring his safety, arrested him and sent him to jail. Charged under Bangladesh’s notorious Digital Security Act 2018, Bangladesh’s version of the blasphemy law, Alam spent eleven months in jail without a trial. AAI and its partn ..read more

The number of ex-Muslims is growing Jafar Ibrahim (not his real name) is a notable figure in Gumel, Jigawa State, where more than 90% of the city’s residents identify as Muslims. Muslims continue to wax their strength by targeting Christians and ex-Muslims, as evidenced by the brutal lynching of Deborah, a student in Sokoto, over a blasphemy allegation. But what many such ideologically violent people don’t know is the extent to which Muslims in the northern part of Nigeria are, for the first time, learning to ditch Islam for good. Jafar led us to his spacious living room and picked up a copy ..read more

Mehsa Amini, was a 22-year-old woman detained by the morality police for wearing an improper hijab, was beaten in their custody, went into a coma, and later passed away in a hospital. According to claims from witnesses and social media users, she was abused both inside the detention facility and in the patrol car. Two hours after being moved to the Tehran Detention Center, Mahsa’s body was transported by ambulance to Kasra Hospital. Mahsa, who was from the western Iranian city of Saqqez, traveled to Tehran with her family to visit her relatives. The morality police in Tehran reportedly detaine ..read more

Myanmar’s military had been terrorizing its people since 1962. In 1962, there was a student uprising against the military coup. As a result, the whole student union building of Yangon University, the largest and oldest university in Myanmar, was blown up, and the students who tried to escape the bombing were shot. This is just one example of the many incidents. I hope the readers can imagine the conditions experienced by marginalized ethnic groups which received no local and international media coverage. Oppressions in Myanmar Out of the blue, the world was woken up by the Rohingya genocide co ..read more

Mehsa Amini, was a 22-year-old woman detained by the morality police for wearing an improper hijab, was beaten in their custody, went into a coma, and later passed away in a hospital. According to claims from witnesses and social media users, she was abused both inside the detention facility and in the patrol car. Two hours after being moved to the Tehran Detention Center, Mahsa’s body was transported by ambulance to Kasra Hospital. Mahsa, who was from the western Iranian city of Saqqez, traveled to Tehran with her family to visit her relatives. The morality police in Tehran reportedly detaine ..read more

On 10 August 2020, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by hanging by the Kano Upper Shariah Court sitting at Hausawa Filin Hockey. The Foundation for Religious Freedom* appealed the conviction because: 1. Gross procedural errors in the trial (including failure to provide legal representation for Yahaya) made the conviction unsafe, and 2. Shariah blasphemy laws are unconstitutional in Nigeria because they conflict with Sections 10, 38 and 39 of the Constitution. On 21 January 2021, the Kano High Court quashed Yahaya’s conviction and sentence but remitted him t ..read more

Myanmar has been in turmoil for eighteen months since the military overthrew a democratically elected government in February 2021. During these eighteen months, people in Myanmar have lost their houses, dreams, loved ones, and belongings. In response to the war crimes committed by the military junta and their reactionary fascism, people all over Myanmar have decided to take up arms against the coup to preserve the authenticity of the democratic government they elected. However, many other people have decided to support the military junta for several reasons. Among them, assuming the military j ..read more

Myanmar’s military had been terrorizing its people since 1962. In 1962, there was a student uprising against the military coup. As a result, the whole student union building of Yangon University, the largest and oldest university in Myanmar, was blown up, and the students who tried to escape the bombing were shot. This is just one example of the many incidents. I hope the readers can imagine the conditions experienced by marginalized ethnic groups which received no local and international media coverage. Oppressions in Myanmar Out of the blue, the world was woken up by the Rohingya genocide co ..read more