Showing posts with label Maryam Namazie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maryam Namazie. Show all posts
Maryam Namazie ✊with news of an event at the Cockpit Theatre, London, 25 February, 12-6pm.


In the run-up to International Women’s Day 2024, One Law for All invites you to join an inspiring afternoon of discussion, music, poetry, film and theatre to pay homage to and celebrate the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution in Iran. The programme is mainly in Persian with brief English translation and includes:

* Panel discussion with Filmmaker Mahshad Afshar, former Political Prisoner Mersedeh Ghaedi, Campaigner Maryam Namazie and Activist Atieh Niknafas

* Music by Kurdish Alevi Singer Suna Alan

* Protest Action by Artist Victoria Gugenheim

* Poetry by Poet in Exile Ziba Karbassi

* Short film by Mahshad Afshar

* Journey to Starland by Playwright Soheila Ghodstinat. 5 women (3 actresses and 2 musicians) come together to tell the story of a woman and her many struggles to find her place in the world. In a captivating story-telling experience, the voice of one woman becomes the voice of all women. In addition to an outstanding cast, namely Mahsa Bozorgomid, Sara Fotros, Tara Jaff, Leilie Mohseni and Laleh Moosavi, this play also features the vocalist Shokufeh Farazmand.

* Post-theatre discussion with the Playwright and Performers

Tickets can be purchased on the Cockpit Theatre website. Those on our mailing list can receive half-price tickets using the discount code: WLF.




Woman, Life, Freedom Revolution In Iran

Maryam Namazie Resistance against surging executions in Iran continue.

5-February-2024

On 25 January 61 women political prisoners in Evin prison held a day-long hunger strike in condemnation of the surge in executions, including of a protestor arrested during the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution, Mohamad Ghobadlou.

On 30 January, there was a national strike in Iranian Kurdistan against the executions of Kurdish political prisoners Mohammad Faramarzi, Mohsen Mazloum, Wafa Azarbar, and Pejman Fatehi.


On 31 January, a group of prisoners on death row at Ghezel Hesar prison declared a hunger strike every Tuesday to draw attention to the urgent need to halt executions; other prisoners have joined the campaign.

Join #TuesdaysAgainstExecutions #EndExecutionsInIran. Join protests that are being organised in city centres worldwide, write a poem, sing a song, draw a picture, take a photo or video of yourself with the hashtags…

Your support and solidarity with thousands of prisoners on death row can help save lives.
#TuesdayAgainstExcecutions
#StopExecutionsInIran
#RageAgainstExecutions

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

Tuesdays Against Executions In Iran

Maryam Namazie ✏ Press Release Paris, 29 November 2023.

Per the request of City Hall, the final guest list must be submitted by December 3, so please register your intent to participate at the latest by 5pm on that day by completing this form.

To see conference brochure, click on this link.

For the first time in France, an international conference bringing together defenders of Laicity from across the world is being held during 8-9 December 2023 at the Auditorium of Paris City Hall. 

The conference is co-organised by Laïques Sans Frontières (LSF), a 1901 Law association created in January 2023 in Paris, and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), in collaboration with the Comité Laïcité Republic (CLR) and EGALE. 

This event will take place in partnership with the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Marianne magazine, Freedom from Religion Foundation (USA), National Secular Society (UK) and Center for Inquiry (USA).

The uprising of Iranians demanding a civil state reinforces our idea that all people aspire to freedom. It seems urgent and essential to us to bring together those throughout the world who fight for freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and for Laicity, in particular those from the "Muslim world" who often risk their lives as unbelievers or worse, apostates.

There are "atheists in Islam" and we believe that Laicity is the condition to ensure them a life worthy of free citizens in their countries. This movement of "ex-Muslims", which grows from year to year and Muslim believers who defend laicity, need international solidarity.

The event will bring together over 40 Laic figures, coming from the four corners of the globe, such as Nadia El Fani, Tunisian and French filmmaker, Maryam Namazie, Iranian Campaigner and Spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, Hamadi Redissi, Professor Emeritus at the University of Tunis and author of "Expressing yourself freely in Islam," Joumana Haddad, Lebanese Writer and Feminist Activist, Rana Ahmed, Saudi refugee in Germany and Founder of Atheist Refugee Relief, Marieme Helie Lucas, Algerian Sociologist and Founder of Secularism is a Women’s Issue, and many others.

Panellists will address the intersection between Laicity and women's rights, atheism in the Islamic context, contemporary challenges related to Laicity and its role in preserving democracy. Democracy cannot be full and complete where religion dictates its rules.

This conference is in line with previously conferences organised by the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain bringing together atheists from around the world, entitled "Celebrating Dissent", which were held in London (2014 and 2017), Amsterdam (2019) and Cologne (2022).

For LSF, it was time for Paris to relay these voices that are rising to demand the separation of religion and the state on a global scale.

For more information: laiquessansfrontieres@gmail.com

Contacts: (French. Arabic. English)

Nadia El Fani - President of LSF Tél: +33 620225671

Betty Lachgar - Secretary-General of LSF Tél: +33 788028012

Maryam Namazie - Spokesperson of CEMB Tel: +44 7719 166731

Communique De Presse

Laïques De Tous Les Pays, Unissez-Vous !

Soyons Réalistes, Exigeons La Laïcité Partout

Paris, le 29 Novembre 2023

À la demande de l'Hôtel de Ville, la liste finale des personnes invitées doit être soumise le 3 décembre. Veuillez s'il vous plaît confirmer votre présence au plus tard ce jour-là à 17 heures en remplissant le formulaire suivant.

Pour consulter la brochure veuillez cliquer sur ce lien.

Pour la première fois en France, une conférence internationale réunissant défenseurs et défenseuses de la laïcité du monde entieraura lieu les 8 et 9 décembre 2023 à l’Auditorium de l’Hôtel de Villede Paris. Cette conférence est co-organisée par l’Association Laïques Sans Frontières (LSF), une association Loi 1901, créée en janvier 2023 à Paris, et le Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), en collaboration avec le Comité Laïcité République (CLR) et l’Association EGALE (Égalité Laïcité Europe). Cet événement se déroule en partenariat avec le journal satirique Charlie Hebdo, le magazine Marianne, Freedom From Religion Foundation (USA), National Secular Society (UK) et Center for Inquiry (USA).

Le soulèvement des Iraniennes et Iraniens qui revendiquent un État civil nous conforte dans l'idée que tout peuple aspire à la liberté. Il nous semble urgent et indispensable de réunir celles et ceux qui à travers le monde, luttent pour la liberté de conscience, la liberté d'expression et pour la laïcité, et notamment celles et ceux des "mondes musulmans", qui souvent, risquent leur vie en tant que mécréant ou pire, apostats.

Il y a des "athées en Islam" et nous pensons que la laïcité est la condition pour leur assurer une vie digne de citoyennes et citoyens libres dans leurs pays.

Ce mouvement d' ”Ex-Muslims", qui grandit d'année en année, mais aussi de personnes croyantes musulmanes qui défendent la laïcité, a besoin de solidarité internationale.

L'événement réunira plus de 40 personnalités laïques, venant des quatre coins du monde, telles que Nadia El Fani, cinéaste Tunisienne et Française, présidente de Laïques Sans Frontières, Maryam Namazie, militante iranienne et porte-parole du Conseil des ex-musulmans de Grande-Bretagne, Hamadi Redissi, professeur émérite à l'Université de Tunis et auteur de « S'exprimer librement dans l'Islam », JoumanaHaddad, écrivaine libanaise et militante féministe, Rana Ahmed, réfugiée saoudienne en Allemagne et fondatrice d'Atheist RefugeeRelief, Marieme Helie Lucas, sociologue algérienne et fondatrice de Secularism Is A Women's Issue, et bien d’autres.

Les panélistes aborderont l'intersection entre la laïcité et les droits des femmes, l’athéisme dans le contexte islamique, les défis contemporains liés à la laïcité et son rôle dans la préservation de la démocratie. La démocratie ne peut être pleine et entière là où la religion dicte ses règles.

Cette conférence s'inscrit dans la droite ligne des rencontres précédemment organisées par le Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, réunissant des athées du monde entier, intitulées "Celebrating Dissent", qui se sont tenues à Londres (2014 et 2017), Amsterdam (2019) et à Cologne (2022).

Pour LSF, il était temps que Paris se fasse le relais de ces voix qui s'élèvent pour réclamer la séparation du religieux et du politique à l'échelle mondiale.

Pour plus d'informations : laiquessansfrontieres@gmail.com

Contacts : (Français. Arabe. Anglais)

Nadia El Fani Présidente de LSF​​​ Tél : +33 620225671

Betty Lachgar Secrétaire Générale de LSF​ Tél : +33 788028012

Maryam Namazie Porte-Parole du CEMB​ Tel: +44 7719 166731

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

Laics Of All Countries, Unite! Let’s Be Realistic, Let’s Demand Laicity Everywhere

Maryam Namazie Abstract: The article critically examines Bahareh Hedayat’s open letter from Evin prison written in December 2022. 

9-October-2023
The letter reveals a paradigm shift with respect to the so-called reformist movement – from working within the confines of a theocratic state to calling for its complete overthrow by revolutionary means. This welcome change is a reflection of the secular and anti-clerical revolution unfolding in Iran, sparked by the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini and led by women – a revolution that is convincing many, like Hedayat, that the only solution is revolution. In fact, the whole idea behind the reformist movement was wrong from the beginning: how does one reform God’s laws that are meant to be infallible? Can the rights of women be met within a system of sex apartheid? Can the unreformable be reformed? As for the future of Iran, this is the time to dream big and recognise the vast potential of this revolution to fundamentally change the face of the country and the world by establishing – why not? – a more interventionist direct democracy, such as that being experimented in Rojava.


Bahareh Hedayat (born 1980) is an activist who has been imprisoned multiple times. In October 2022, she was re-arrested amidst the Mahsa Jina Amini revolution and jailed in Evin Prison. She has currently been moved to hospital due to deterioration of her health as a result of a hunger strike.

In December 2022, two months after the start of the Mahsa Jina Amini revolution, Hedayat penned an open letter from Evin Prison. [Political prisoners in Iran have smuggled open letters for years now, including labour activist Sepideh Qoliyan, who recently wrote: ‘The echoes of “Woman, Life, Freedom” can be heard even through the thick walls of Evin prison.’ Upon release in March 2023 after nearly 6 years in prison, Qoliyan shouted ‘Khamenei the tyrant; we will bury you.’ She was promptly rearrested and is back at Evin Prison.]

Hedayat’s letter is entitled ‘Revolution is Inevitable.’

The letter reveals a paradigm shift: from working within the confines of a theocratic state to calling for its complete overthrow by revolutionary means.

Hedayat is best known for her work in the Campaign for Equality which aimed at raising one million signatures to reform the discriminatory laws in Iran and for her support of the Green Movement of the so-called Islamic reformists. She has also been Spokesperson for the Women’s Commission of Daftareh Tahkheem Vahdat(Office to Foster Unity or Office for Strengthening Unity), a government-affiliated student group aimed at organising students ‘within the framework of the constitution and the Islamic revolution.’

This welcome change is a reflection of the women’s revolution unfolding in Iran, sparked by the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini for ‘improper veiling’ on 16 September 2022. This modern, secular, anti-clerical and even anti-religious revolution is led by a Generation Z that has no illusions towards any aspect of the Islamic state. And it is convincing many, like Hedayat, that the only solution is revolution.

In her open letter, she writes: ‘the youth of today’s Iran brought their political demands to the streets and defined them around the slogan of “woman, life, freedom” and the concept of the overthrow [of the Islamic Republic].’ She says the movement is ‘free from the shrapnel of political Islam.’ She adds, ‘In order to explain what it wants and does not want, this generation of protestors has not resorted to any concept that has a religious or even quasi-religious pedigree, and this is a great accomplishment.’

Crucially, she recognises that support for the so-called reformists has been a mistake. At the height of this movement, many of us on the Left did warn that the reformist faction from within the ruling elite was a strategy to maintain the Islamic system with empty promises of illusory reform in the face of widespread opposition from various sectors of Iranian society. After all, the so-called reformists have always been part and parcel of the system. Only men who have shown complete loyalty to the Islamic system have had any chance of entering and remaining in positions of power. They can only run in the farcical elections if approved by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Spiritual Leader, and the Council of Guardians. And the track records of these ‘reformists’ speak for themselves.

Mohammad Khatami, the ‘leading reformer,’ for example, has been a representative in the Islamic Assembly during the 1980s, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance responsible for censorship, and a member of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, which aims to ensure that the education and culture of Iran ‘remains 100% Islamic’ as Ayatollah Khomeini has directed.

The Green movement leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has been a former prime minister during 1981-1989, a period known as the Bloody Decade. In August 1988 alone, in a second wave of mass executions after brief ‘trials,’ thousands who responded negatively to questions such as ‘Are you a Muslim?’, ‘Do you believe in Allah?’, ‘Is the Holy Qur’an the Word of Allah?’, ‘Do you accept the Holy Muhammad to be the Seal of the Prophets?’, ‘Do you fast during Ramadan?’, ‘Do you pray and read the Holy Qur’an?’ have been summarily executed. So why Hedayat’s misguided feelings of betrayal to hear Mir Hossein Mousavi call Ayatollah Khomeini, a ‘vigilant spirit?’

Certainly, the ‘reformists’ have been persecuted, their government-affiliated papers shut down, their candidates barred from running in the ‘elections.’ But hasn’t this regime been built on the suppression and persecution of countless generations? Isn’t it a totalitarian state without free press, speech or thought? Does persecution only matter when those working within the confines of the regime are persecuted? What about all the other bodies buried in mass graves, like in Khavaran?

The earnest use of the term reformist within this widespread repression is repulsive. Reform means real changes in the law that improves the condition of citizens. How does one reform God’s laws that are meant to be infallible? And how can a theocracy that represents God’s rule on earth be reformed? The very idea is considered blasphemous and heretical by theocrats, including so-called reformists that have not only been ‘contaminated with political Islam’ but part and parcel of Islamist rule in Iran for four decades.

The Worker-communist Mansoor Hekmat has said it well in describing a conference in Berlin in 2000 that had aimed to present the ‘reformists’ image of a different Islamic Republic ‘…full of smiles and chirping birds, where harmless mullahs with radiant faces and sheer robes frolic, hand in hand in meadows chasing butterflies, collecting stamps and learning the Internet… [in order to] conceal – behind a cardboard image of a reactionary mullah and worthless utterances about “modern Islam” – the mass executions and stonings, the unmarked graves, the unpaid workers, right-less women, hopeless youth, ruined children, suppressed beliefs and silenced voices.’ The so-called reformists tried to save their regime and failed. The Jina revolution is testament to that.

Hedayat now recognises that people’s demands cannot be met within this structure. Of course, it cannot. Any aspect of an Islamic state, however presented and packaged, is antithetical to people’s demands and desires. The ongoing protests and uprisings in Iran over the years, including in December 2017 and November 2019 have shown this very clearly. Can the rights of black people be met within a system of racial apartheid? Can the rights of women be met within a system of sex apartheid? Can the unreformable be reformed?

Interestingly, Hedayat is rightly critical of a current in the West that defends the hijab as empowering and sees criticism of the veil as ‘Islamophobia’ because of cultural relativism. But wasn’t the corresponding cultural particularism of the ‘reformists’ the exact same position, albeit for different reasons? Their argument has always been that Islam and Islamic rules are ‘people’s culture,’ therefore ‘graduate change’ is needed to ‘prevent violence’ and ensure that ‘our’ culture is respected. Cultural relativism and absolutism have been the perfect positions to maintain the status quo and the Islamic system in Iran. Yet we know that culture is not homogenous or static. A defence of Islamic culture is a defence of a totalitarian state vis-à-vis the culture of dissent and resistance. In any case, if your ‘culture’ violates rights, it must be changed, condemned, abolished. You cannot legitimise violence and rights violations by saying it is ‘my culture.’ It certainly isn’t everyone’s culture. Saying so disregards the empirical evidence of diversity and the widespread opposition to Islamic rules, which are now in public view for the world to see, thanks to the Jina revolution.

Women and girls removing and burning their hijabs as the most visible manifestation of and a key pillar of Islamist rule insists on this distinction between the regime’s culture and that of free women and men. The slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom,’ first raised in Rojava, has shaken this regime to its very core because a theocracy that cannot control ‘its women,’ cannot continue to exist. It is via the hijab and suppression of women that the regime suppresses all of society. Hence why this is a revolution supported by all segments of society. After decades of misogynist rule, the Jina revolution proclaims: the freedom of women in any society is truly the measure of a free society. Which is why, too, that this revolution has brought to the fore the struggle against discrimination of national and sexual minorities. [As an aside, though Hedayat doesn’t see this, the hijab and sex apartheid are very much related to the maintenance of capitalism through the relegation of women to private domestic labour and reproduction.]

Whilst commendably criticising the ‘reformist’ movement, Hedayat’s worldview continues to carry its baggage. She speaks of revolution being in nature ‘dangerous and violent,’ for example. In fact, revolution is the people’s response to forty years of unrelenting violence. Revolution is the least violent means in confronting a totalitarian state. If over 600 people have been killed in protests since September 2022, if 18-20,000 people have been arrested and tortured, if hundreds have been executed since January this year alone, if over 5,000 schoolgirls have been gassed… it is the regime’s violence they are resisting, not the other way round.

Also, another open letter from Hedayat from June this year warns against ‘unrealisable utopias,’ such as ‘council rule and radical democracy.’ As Uruguayan poet and writer Eduardo Galeano says: ‘To ensure the perpetuation of the current state of affairs in lands where every minute a child dies of disease or hunger, we have to be taught to see ourselves through the eyes of the oppressor. People are trained to accept “this” order as the “natural” order and therefore as an eternal one…’

Considering direct forms of democratic rule as utopian precisely during a period of revolutionary upheaval reveals the continued ‘reformist’ point of view that can never see beyond prescribed confines and limits. More than any other time, isn’t this the time to be audacious, dream big and recognise the vast potential of the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution to fundamentally change the face of Iran and the world by establishing a more interventionist direct democracy, such as that being experimented in Rojava, which goes beyond the current old and tired ‘democracies for all’ but really for the few?

The poverty of empathy and imagination is a major obstacle to the birth of a new society in Iran as is the threat of further interventions by Western governments, the revolution’s hijacking by right-wing opposition forces like the monarchists, and most crucially the continued suppression by the Islamic regime of Iran as its only route to survival.

The Jina revolution is showing a new way, if only its call is heeded.

This article was written and will be published in Italian for Psiche in December. It was published in English in Feminist Dissent.

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

Iran ✊ Revolution Not Reform

Maryam NamazieCEMB Resident Artist Victoria Gugenheim has given a keynote address on Art and Freedom of Expression and shown an exhibition entitled Terror, Trauma, Transformation featuring CEMB’s activist work at the World Humanist Congress in Copenhagen during 3-6 August.

8-August-2023


 ‘The Art of Resistance,’ a 30-minute documentary featuring Victoria and Maryam Namazie’s approach to freedom of expression and street activism has been premiered there. The film is now available for showing at festivals and events. See film’s trailer:


At the Congress, Victoria received a standing ovation for her poem and bodypainting action in tribute to Mahsa Jina Amini and Woman, Life, Freedom presented live on stage.

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

Premiere Of Art Of Resistance

Maryam Namaziespeaking in England and Germany, shared her views on the relationship between human rights in Islam.


The global fight for women’s rights and freedom takes centre stage as prominent women’s rights organisation One Law For All and the feminist liberation charity FiLiA again join forces to stand in solidarity with our Iranian sisters, and to call for an end to the Islamic regime of Iran.

The #Sing4Freedom initiative, an integral part of the ground-breaking Hair4Freedom campaign initiated in November 2022, and the subsequent Dance4Freedom campaign in April 2023, are set to inspire and mobilise women across the UK and world.

Women will gather to sing the Equality Song which has become a rallying cry for protestors in Iran. Notably, the song gained international attention in 2018 when three unveiled women’s rights advocates sang it in the Tehran metro to mark International Women’s Day.

The #Sing4Freedom protest aims to amplify the voices of those who cannot be silenced, bringing attention to the daily inhumane treatment faced by women in Iran.

Lyrics and translations of the Equality Song are available in both English and Persian, serving as a bridge that connects cultures and languages while championing the universal fight for women’s rights. This is an opportunity for the press to engage in a story of courage, resilience, and solidarity. By covering this unique protest, the press can play an essential role in encouraging the global community to stand up and support the ongoing revolution for women’s freedom.

Join us in spreading the word to commemorate one year since the murder of Mahsa Amini, and the Woman Life Freedom Revolution!

We invite the press to capture the determination of those who refuse to turn away from this revolution.

For media inquiries, interviews, and more information, please contact:

Freya Papworth, FiLiA Campaigns Spokeswoman, campaigns@filia.org.uk

About One Law For All

One Law For All is a prominent women’s rights organisation. Through dynamic campaigns and powerful initiatives, they oppose religious laws and theocracy that discriminate against and encourage violence against women and strive for women’s rights, equality and secular societies.

About FiLiA

FiLiA is a feminist liberation charity committed to amplifying the voices of women less heard, defending women’s rights globally, and building sisterhood and solidarity.

Together, we sing. Together, we stand. Together, we rise.

Social media hashtags: #Sing4Freedom #Hair4Freedom #Dance4Freedom

Comments For Use:

Maryam Namazie – Spokeswoman for One Law For All @MaryamNamazie

In Iran, women are banned from showing their hair, singing or dancing in public, hence why so many women and girls have been doing just that during the Mahsa Jina Amini revolution in Iran. They are also barred from working, studying and travelling without their male guardian’s permission. Women’s testimony is worth half that of a man’s; she gets half the inheritance men do, and women have to sit at the back of a bus and use separate entrances. It’s a system of apartheid, no different from race apartheid, but one based on sex. It’s no wonder that women and girls are leading the fight back. Their message has reverberated across the world: we don’t want an Islamic regime; we don’t want a misogynist state. In a country where the state controls all of society via its suppression and control of women, it is fitting that it is the women – and young girls – who are bringing the Islamic regime to its knees. We see it as the historical task of women everywhere to defend the Jina revolution. Our revolution.

Freya Papworth – Spokeswoman for FiLiA Charity campaigns@filia.org.uk

The past few years have seen a brutal crackdown on women’s rights around the world, with the clock ticking backwards as hard won freedoms have been removed either with the swipe of a pen or with brutality reminiscent of a dystopian novel. Women are under sustained and increasingly violent attacks and so we stand with our sisters in Iran who are fighting back, against such high odds. I am proud of our sustained protests throughout the last year which have seen hundreds of women cut their hair and dance, and I hope many more will join us on the 16th April both in person and at home on social media.

Useful Links:

FiLiA Charity

One Law For All

Maryam Namazie

Video of Hair4Freedom protest 2022

Podcast episode with Maryam and Freya

Previous Protests by One Law For All and FiLiA

Hair4Freedom

The first #4Freedom joint action, #Hair4Freedom saw women queuing up for over an hour to cut their hair, a symbol of the women led revolution, to the sound of drumming, chanting and singing. Our action was broadcast around the world on: Daily Telegraph Australia, VOA, ABC News, Cyprus Mail, Alein Farsi, Independent Persian, Kayhan London, VOA 365, Sri Lanka News, Yahoo, Reuters and others. Attempts were made to throw the gathered hair on the regime’s embassy in London. Activists were prevented from doing so because the police said ‘it would distress the embassy personnel’.

#Dance4Freedom

On April 29th 2023 women again gathered to learn and perform an Iranian dance set to the protest song Girls of the Land of the Sun. This action was in solidarity with the women’s revolution in Iran via protest dance. The dance-in was for 45 minutes, symbolic of the time it took for morality police to call an ambulance after Mahsa Jina Amini collapsed in detention.

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

#Sing4freedom To Mark The One Year Anniversary Of The Murder Of Mahsa Jina Amini And The Start Of The Woman, Life, Freedom Revolution In Iran

Maryam Namaziespeaking in England and Germany, shared her views on the relationship between human rights in Islam.

8-July-2023

See Maryam’s opening remarks at Durham University Union: Islam is not compatible with human rights.



Watch Maryam’s opening remarks at WBZ Berlin Social Science Centre: There is no women’s rights in Islam.



Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

There Are No Rights In Islam 🔴 Maryam Namazie’s Remarks In Durham and Berlin

Maryam Namazie On 1 July, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) marched at Pride in London to celebrate Liberation as Riot and defend the revolution in Iran that is challenging Islam and Islamism and defending Woman, Life, Freedom, LGBT rights, secularism and more.

1-July--2023
On this day, we also raged against the execution and murder of women, dissenters, LGBT, apostates and blasphemers in countries under Islamic law. 


Just this year alone, over 300 dissenters have been executed by the regime in Iran, including Youssef Mehrad and Seyed Sadrullah Fazlizare for blasphemy in May.

See photos and video footage here.

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

CEMB Celebrated Liberation As A Riot And Woman, Life, Freedom Revolution In Iran At Pride

Maryam NamazieYou are invited to join the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) on International Apostasy Day to defend freedom of expression and the right to apostasy and blasphemy by subverting religious texts.



Whilst we might not agree with burning Qurans and books (usually associated with a long history of state and religious censorship against dissent), we nonetheless recognise the right of individuals to express their abhorrence to bad ideas and the persecution and murder of freethinkers and apostates.


On Apostasy Day, join us in celebrating blasphemy and apostasy as rights by subverting and doodling on the Quran, Bible, Torah, the Vedas or any other religious texts to proclaim:

Ideas are not sacred, human beings are.

It is important to reiterate that burning, murdering, torturing, persecuting human beings are violence and hate, not burning the Quran or religious texts.

Tag CEMB with your videos or photos subverting religious texts and publish them online using the hashtags: #ApostasyDay #ApostasyDayDoodles.

See an example of Maryam Namazie’s doodling the Quran for some ideas on what you can do.



Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

Doodling On The Quran And Religious Texts For Apostasy Day

Maryam NamazieToday 24 June is a day of collective rage against the executions in Iran.



There will be protests organised in 20 cities but we are also asking for help in promoting the day of action on social media. More information can be found below. Would you be willing to take a photo of yourself, including with the hashtags, that we can post on social media throughout the day? Please use #RiseUpAgainstExecutionsinIran and any of these other ones:

#EndExecutions

If you send me your photo (or video) to m.namazie@ex-muslim.org.uk

I can then post it for you tagging you throughout the day. Let me know your social media tags too. Or you can post it yourself. Looking forward to hearing from you.

In solidarity Maryam 

Our Collective Rage: Rise Up Against Executions in Iran 

The Islamic regime of Iran’s machinery of execution has never stopped since its inception. The wave of repression, killings and executions has intensified, especially in Baluchistan, Kurdistan and Khuzestan

The numbers of executed this month alone have been at least 142 people; so far this year, 307 people have been executed in Iran. Many more are at risk. We, left, democratic, feminist, LGBTQIA+, and anti-national oppression activists, collectives and organisations have faced repression, censorship and torture like many others. In exile and as refugees, many of us continue to face threats and harassment. Nonetheless, we have persisted in organising and mobilising solidarity with people’s resistance against oppression, including during the current Jina (Mahsa) Amini political and social revolution. The stepped-up executions and long-term prison sentences are attempts by the regime to suppress widespread protests and opposition to its rule.

Every precious life taken by the Islamic Republic is further evidence against the regime, which must face unequivocal outrage and condemnation via a united stand against executions.Past experience has shown that the regime will continue to arrest, kidnap, torture and execute people in the streets, at universities and schools and at workplaces if it does not face resistance from people in Iran and abroad. Our institutions, organisations and activists abroad call for an International Day to Rise Up Against Executions in Iran on Saturday 24 June 2023 in solidarity with the revolution and people of Iran and against the executions and suppression. We call on people everywhere to join us and resist.


Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

Day Of Collective Rage Against Executions In Iran

Maryam Namazie The murder of Kurdish Iranian 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini for a few strands of hair by the Islamic regime of Iran’s morality police on 16 September 2023 has sparked a woman’s revolution in Iran. 



The slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom,’ first raised in Rojava, has become a universal slogan inspiring the world via the Mahsa Jina revolution.

You could say, it’s raining women’s revolutions in the region.

Despite the Islamic regime of Iran’s suppression using weapons of war, killing of over 500 protestors, imprisoning 18-20,000 protestors, using rape as a weapon of suppression, and even gassing over 5,000 girls at schools across Iran, the revolutionary uprising and resistance continues.



Its manifestations are everywhere, including with ongoing weekly Friday protests in Baluchestan. In the run up to International Workers Day, 1 May, workers in over hundred factories and plants in the oil, gas, steel, petrochemical and other industries began a strike in nearly 40 cities in 13 provinces for better work and living conditions. These are key industries that will place even more pressure on the regime. Another recent example is the pre-Islamic Iranian New Year Nowruz marking the advent of Spring being celebrated in protest at the graves of those killed, including at that of Mahsa Jina Amini’s. Funerals or memorials are no longer sites of religious mourning but of protest dancing, singing and slogans, hair cutting, applause to honour the person killed and sheer defiance. Women and girls are walking the streets unveiled, even though the regime has threatened to prosecute them ‘without mercy.’ Political prisoners shout slogans in support of the revolution as soon as they are released. A case in point is labour activist Sepideh Qoliyan. Upon release after nearly 6 years in prison, she shouted ‘Khamenei the tyrant; we will bury you.’ She was promptly rearrested and is back at Evin Prison.

Significantly, an historic Woman, Life, Freedom Charter of Minimum Demands of 20 Independent Trade Unions and Civic Organisations has been published in Iran in February calling for an end to executions and torture, equality, freedom of political prisoners, secularism, religion as a private affair and for freedom of expression and conscience, amongst others.

A Charter of Progressive Women published on 8 March, International Women’s Day, is calling for an end to sex apartheid, the right to safe abortions, prohibition of child veiling, equality in all spheres…

This is a modern, secular, anti-clerical revolution led by a Generation Z with no illusions towards an Islamic state. They want an end to theocracy and they want it now. This is the beginning of the end for the regime. It is a revolution that needs to be supported, strengthened, and encouraged because it will herald a new dawn for people in the region and across the globe.

Despite the hopeful possibilities for fundamental revolutionary change, victory is not guaranteed. There are forces at work endeavouring to hijack the revolution. A major concern is Reza Pahlavi, the former dictator’s son who is putting himself forward as the only alternative. His Charter (repugnantly named the Mahsa Charter even though it is an attempt at derailing the Mahsa revolution) is a manifesto of empty promises and opportunism, issued with a handful of other like-minded personalities such as Masih Alinejad, Shirin Ebadi, Nazanin Boniadi and Hamed Esmaeilion.

Compare Pahlavi’s Charter with those that have come out of the long struggles of women’s liberation, civil and trade union organisations in Iran. The Iranian charters are a battle cry for revolution and fundamental change. Pahlavi’s is addressed to Western governments to plead his case as their alternative. It’s an exercise in manipulation.

Take, for example, the reference to joining international conventions as its main human rights ‘promise’ despite the fact that most international human rights instruments are non-binding. Even if they are, governments can have innumerable exemptions that empty them of any substance. The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), for example, which is one of the few that is legally binding, has the most religious and cultural exemptions of any Convention.

His interviews and speeches reveal his real aims. At a National Union for ‘Democracy’ in Iran event he states there is no longer any need for protests. He says: ‘…protests every single day for months at a time. It’s unrealistic nor is it in that sense necessary. Because the protests had to send a clear message to the world. That we want an end to this regime. Now, would you rather see our children being shot in the eye or poisoned by chemical attacks?’ As if protesting is the cause of our children being shot and killed. He wants the protests to take a backseat so he can focus on regime change from above with (he hopes) the help of Western governments that have a history of interventions in Iran.

It was this very intervention in 1979 which paved the way for an Islamic regime that suppressed the Iranian revolution. This was during the Cold War when US-led foreign policy was arming and training Islamist forces as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. Faced with a left-leaning revolution in Iran at the time, western powers decided in Guadeloupe that they would no longer support their Shah’s dictatorship and instead welcome Khomeini and an Islamic Republic. The Shah’s strengthening of Islamist forces to suppress progressive movements in Iran made this a viable option.

Pahlavi hopes that like in the past, Western powers will help pave the way for his ‘return’ to power. His charter and various unity conferences – with the same handful of people – are aimed at persuading said powers to make him their next alternative. [Since writing this, the Unity group has already fallen apart, with Hamed Esmaeilion resigning and others issuing statements without Reza Pahlavi.] Of course, Western powers are still invested in the Islamic regime but as soon as the regime is sufficiently weakened or overthrown, Pahlavi is banking on their siding with him and not the revolutionary forces in Iran.

His grandfather Reza Shah and his father Mohammad Reza Shah came to power that way, via coups supported by Western governments, so why not him? The Pahlavi reign is a reign of coups, maintained via suppressing, imprisoning and murdering progressive voices. Many of the former Shah’s SAVAK secret service were integrated into the Islamic regime’s SAVAMA. Hence why his Charter is full of loopholes and empty promises to ensure he can do as he needs once in power.

This explains why Reza Pahlavi’s Charter calls for the integration of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) into the army. In interviews, he has said that he will rely on the Pasdaran of Islamic revolution and Basij to secure the country after the ‘collapse’ of the regime, forces that are despised and at the forefront of suppression. This is in direct contradiction to calls inside and outside Iran to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist body. The Woman, Life, Freedom Charter of Minimum Demands of 20 Independent Trade Unions and Civic Organisations in Iran has called for ‘the dissolution of all repressive apparatus.’ Reza Pahlavi wants to integrate them into his army. Repressive forces will be useful to him as they were to his family.

Like grandfather and father, like son.

Reza Pahlavi’s dream of regime change from above is so great that he has even asked for people’s power of attorney, which has embarrassingly (for him) backfired. Only 450,000 handed him power of attorney, out of a population of 88 million in Iran and 4 million in the Diaspora. Why would those fighting for a revolution give their decision-making authority to anyone, let alone someone whose only claim to fame is that his dad was a former dictator?

This doesn’t stop the Iranian media abroad like Voice of America, Manoto, Iran International, Independent Persian from shamelessly aiding in manufacturing consent and engineering regime change from above. (BBC Persian is still promoting factions of the Islamic regime.)

He and the same few cohorts keep speaking of unity but what they really mean is unity under Reza Pahlavi. End of. They are already calling him ‘Prince Pahlavi.’ And anyone critical of this engineering from above is met with accusations of being an agent of the regime and causing division by his supporters, some of whom are far-Right fascists. This includes using threats and violence against critics and at protest rallies in the Diaspora. He and his cohorts have singlehandedly ended the biggest mass protests in Diaspora history after his supporters drowned out defence for the Mahsa Jina revolution with ‘Long Live the Shah’ and flooded protests with his and his family’s photos. His supporters regularly push out those with flags of other political groups or Kurdish and LGBT flags. They have even destroyed the PA system of those opposed to the monarchy… and these are only examples of what I have seen myself at protests in London. See some of the online threats I have received as an example. Pahlavi’s catchword ‘unity’ really means united behind his rule – or else his goons will make sure to take care of things for him.

Yasmine Pahlavi, his wife, has been even clearer about what ‘Prince Pahlavi’s’ rule will mean for the people of Iran. She isn’t restricted as he is by the need to obfuscate their politics in democratic language to dupe the public. Reza Pahlavi not only doesn’t contradict what she says, he ‘likes’ her comments and posts on social media. For example, in response to someone shouting ‘Death to Oppressor, whether Shah (the former Dictatorship) or Leader (Khamenei)’ at a protest in the US, a slogan also shouted in Iran, she tells someone who responds ‘Death to Stalin, Death to Lenin:’ ‘They are dead; death to those who are still here.’ Clearly, there is a huge difference between saying death to oppressor versus saying death to those who are Left-leaning. It’s no wonder Parviz Sabeti, a notorious SAVAK intelligence chief (the Shah’s secret police) made his first US public appearance at an LA rally or that Reza Pahlavi’s supporters have been glorifying SAVAK’s role in suppressing dissent during the former dictatorship.

In a live discussion when Hamed Esmaeilion (one of his unity cohorts who has recently resigned) speaks about the need for justice and accountability for People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK in Persian) members executed in the 1980s, Yasmine Pahlavi writes: ‘I’m not clear why time is being spent in this forum to speak about justice for MEK families. I think Mr Esmaeilion should focus his time on the families of the victims of the Mahsa Amini revolution.’ The lack of respect for justice and human rights for all, including opponents, tells us all we need to know about their future commitment to human rights and freedoms.

A slogan that monarchists are shouting at rallies in various cities is also telling: ‘Our Leader is Pahlavi; whoever doesn’t say it is a foreigner’ (Rahbar e ma Pahlavi e, Har ky nageh, ajnabie).

His cohorts in ‘unity,’ namely Masih Alinejad’s historical revisionism helps to aid this manufacturing from above. She blames those who fought for the 1979 revolution against the Shah’s dictatorship for bringing the Islamic regime of Iran to power without any reference to Western government intervention or the former Shah’s promotion of religion and clericalism whilst she works with Pahlavi to whip up Western government support for his agenda. Always an opportunist that gravitates towards sources of power, it wasn’t very long ago when she was opposing boycotting the Islamic regime’s farcical ‘elections.’

All this, even before Reza Pahlavi is in power. Imagine what will become of his talk of democracy and human rights if he ever is.

For those of us who remember the 1979 revolution and how it was expropriated and suppressed, this all very déjà vu. But it is also a different Iran, one in which women’s liberation and civic and trade organisations issue historic rights charters and young revolutionaries know the society they want. In an age of social media, the mainstream pro-Pahlavi media are not the only ones that have access to public opinion. The revolution cannot be easily confined and distorted.

Moreover, there is the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (also known as Mujahedin e Khalq) that is of concern as they too have many Western government backers but they are discredited due to their having joined forces with Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. As a religious group with all women members veiled, they are also irrelevant in the current anti-clerical and woman-centred revolution.

What is to be done given these threats? The Mahsa Jina revolution is too important for the women and people of Iran, the region and world to be derailed by would be dictators and policies that put profit before people’s rights and welfare. All those in favour of a woman’s revolution must remain vigilant, keep the focus on the demands of women and people in Iran, on woman, life, freedom and to expose attempts at regime change from above. A priority now too is putting pressure on western governments to stop supporting the Islamic regime but also to stop it from any interventions in favour of regime change from above.

An Islamic regime that came to power by imposing the veil with acid attacks and violence can come to an end with free women tearing off their veils and lighting them ablaze. The question each of us must answer is, which side we are each on. There is only one right answer: on the side of the women’s revolution in Iran, certainly not more of the same old, same old.

This article was written and will be published in Italian for MicroMega in end May.

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

Iran's Democratic Futures

Maryam Namazie  UK Feminists will be dancing in central London on International Dance Day, in solidarity with the Woman, Life, Freedom Revolution.



The women of Iran have long protested the Islamic regime by dancing. We will continue this tradition of protest dancing and invite women to join us.


The human rights organisation One Law For All and radical feminist charity FiLiA are again joining forces as part of the Hair4Freedom campaign launched in November 2022. This action saw women queuing up for over an hour at Piccadilly Circus to cut their hair to the sound of drumming, chanting and singing. Our action was broadcast around the world:

The action was covered extensively, including on Daily Telegraph Australia, VOA, ABC News, Cyprus Mail, Alein Farsi, Independent Persian, Kayhan London, VOA 365, Sri Lanka News, Yahoo, Reuters and others. Attempts were made to throw the gathered hair on the regime’s embassy in London. Activists were prevented from doing so because the police said ‘it would distress the embassy personnel’.

This time we will #Dance4Freedom on International Dance Day.

#Dance4Freedom aims to defend the woman’s revolution in Iran via protest dance. The dance-in will be 45 minutes (accessible moves will be included), symbolic of the time it took for morality police to call an ambulance after Mahsa Amini collapsed when in detention. Mahsa Jina Amini is a young Kurdish woman killed for a few strands of hair. Her death is the spark of the women-led revolution in Iran unfolding in Iran.


Maryam Namazie – Spokeswoman for One Law For All:

We must continue to honour Mahsa Jina Amini and defend ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ for the women of Iran, Afghanistan and across the globe. This revolution will herald a new dawn if only we support it, encourage it, and defend it. Imagine what the world will look like when a misogynist theocracy is overthrown by a woman’s revolution.’

Freya Papworth – Spokeswoman for FiLiA Charity:

It is our duty, as feminists and as women who recognise patriarchal oppression and violence in all its forms, to stand in solidarity with the women of Iran who have been brutalised by the Islamic regime and who still fight back and believe in a better world. There is hope for real change and we ask all women who support this fight for freedom, to join us in this dancing protest

Listen to Maryam Namazie’s interview with Freya Papworth on the women’s revolution in Iran and the upcoming #Dance4Freedom.

Woman! Life! Freedom!
The Women-led revolution!

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

UK Feminists In #Dance4Freedom On International Dance Day For Woman, Life, Freedom Revolution In Iran

Maryam Namazie ✊ The Royal College of Physicians in London was the scene of a stunning International Women’s Day, 8 March, evening in homage to the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ Revolution in Iran.




Maryam Namazie, the event organiser and One Law for All Spokesperson says: ‘On International Women’s Day, will pay homage to the women’s revolution unfolding in Iran. We must continue to defend ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ for the people of Iran, Afghanistan and across the globe. This revolution will herald a new dawn if only we support it, encourage it, and defend it. Imagine what the world will look like when the Islamic regime of Iran is overthrown by a woman’s revolution.’

Sponsored by One Law for All and Woman, Life, Freedom Charter, the programme included:

An opening address by One Law for All Spokesperson Maryam Namazie and one-minute riot for the fallen and those resisting in Iran and Afghanistan.


Continue reading @ Maryam Namazie.

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All.

International Women’s Day Homage To ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ And The Women’s Revolution In Iran