How should Ireland vote in the referendum to repeal blasphemy #BlasphemyRef? It's time to listen to people who have suffered from "blasphemy" accusations in countries from around the world. #EndBlasphemyLaws
READ THEIR WORDS: iheu.org/blasphemy
Alexander Aan, from Indonesia, was charged with “blasphemy” and “calling for others to embrace atheism” for asking online “If God exists, why do bad things happen?”. He was exposed, attacked by a mob, then convicted for “inciting religious hatred” and spent two years in jail.
Bonya Ahmed, was attacked along with her husband Avijit Roy on a visit back to their home country of Bangladesh. He was killed; targeted for supposed “insult to religion” in his writing. Bonya, also seriously injured, now campaigns for free expression and against extremism.
Waleed Al-Housseini, from Palestine, ran a popular blog satirizing religion and detailing “Why I left Islam”. He was jailed for 10 months for "blasphemy". Then, even after release, was harassed and intermittently detained by authorities, including an alleged incidence of torture.
Rana Ahmed is an atheist and women’s rights campaigner from Saudi Arabia, where "promotion of atheist thought" is defined as terrorism. Rana said being forced to wear restrictive veiling “destroyed her childhood”; under fear for her life she sought asylum in Germany.
Mubarak Bala, from Nigeria, was committed to a psychiatric hospital and forcibly medicated, solely on the basis that he'd expressed atheism, and at the command of his father, a high-ranking member of the local religious police. He was only freed after an international outcry.
Ensaf Haidar has campaigned tirelessly for the freedom of her husband, Raif Badawi, who has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia since 2012, accused of running a liberal blog and 'insulting religion' for advocating secularism. Ensaf and Raif have won several awards for their activism.
Philippos Louizos was prosecuted in Greece for satirizing an Orthodox priest, Elder Paisios, with as a character he called “Elder Pastitsios” (a pasta-based pun on his name). His case was widely reported in Europe as showing the absurdity of prosecuting people over online satire.
Amed Sherwan from Iraq was imprisoned for atheism (then age 15!) in solitary confinement and tortured. Now in Germany, Sherwan speaks against political Islamism. But, after an LGBTI campaign which used the slogan “Allah is Gay”, he has received death threats even in his new home.
Taslima Nasreen is a writer with a particular interest in feminism and the suppression of women within religion. She was forced into exile from Bangladesh after receiving death threats and a blasphemy prosecution. She has faced threats and protests in various cities ever since.
Read all these stories and more, and their message to the people of #Ireland to vote YES in the #BlasphemyRef (26 October 2018): iheu.org/blasphemy-accu…
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