Your Weekly Dispatch Awaits

Welcome back! This week’s Unbelief Brief brings the good news of Mubarak Bala’s release from prison. In EXMNA Insights, we reflect on the lasting importance of Charlie Hebdo’s work, 10 years after the tragic attack, and discuss Meta’s latest change. Finally, explore Mubarak Bala’s story in our Persecution Tracker Update, and don’t miss the newly released 2024 Persecution Tracker Report.

Unbelief Brief

At last, we have some real, genuinely good news to pass on: Mubarak Bala, President of the Nigerian Humanist Association, has finally been freed after more than four years in prison. Initially arrested in April 2020 for a Facebook post labeling the Prophet Muhammad a terrorist, he was finally sentenced to 24 years in prison for blasphemy in 2022. While he pled guilty to his charges, he says he did so only out of fear for the lives of “people in the state and especially those that were attached to my case, because they were also targets.” Just months ago, his sentence was reduced to five years, but it appears he has now been released early. According to a BBC Africa report, he is currently in an undisclosed safehouse, since he remains in danger of vigilante attempts on his life. EXMNA welcomes Mubarak’s long-overdue release, even if there is no “justice” to be found in the nearly five years of imprisonment he still suffered. For voicing criticism of Islam without fear or apology, he paid a sacrifice few of us in the Western world could imagine. His courage is laudable to the highest degree.

Meanwhile: Iran International has reported on the existence of “three assassination squads, known as the German Network, tasked with targeting Iranian dissidents abroad and Jewish citizens across Europe,” established by the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This is consistent with previous behavior on the part of the Iranian state, such as previous attempts on the life of Masih Alinejad which were thwarted by US authorities. The reporting reveals that the German Network aimed to assassinate Shahin Najafi, a dissident expatriate musician whom the Islamic Republic has sought to kill for over a decade, owing to a “blasphemous” song which (in the regime’s eyes) proved his apostasy. The mission was fortunately aborted and unsuccessful, but the reporting is an eye-opening look into the efforts of the Islamic Republic to pursue dissidents to the ends of the earth, even into Western countries. You can read more about the network from Iran International, here.

Finally, there are some early indications that the prospects for a new dawn of freedom and tolerance in Syria were short-lived. The interim government ordered the country’s school curriculum to adopt an Islamist slant, which, while not surprising, is still disappointing. Multiple textbooks have been edited, and among the changes are new, explicit references to the importance of following “Sharia”; the removal of chapters on human evolution; and a general shift in focus from nationalistic to religious language. The new government claims the changes are a necessary dismantling of the Assad regime’s propaganda machine, which framed its own legitimacy in terms of secular nationalism. While it is still early in this new chapter for Syria, these early signs do not bode well for the possibility of a just and forward-looking future.

EXMNA Insights

At EXMNA, we work to defend the right to leave Islam while facing the harsh reality of ostracization, threats, and even violence. Our mission centers on promoting freedom of conscience, expression and secularism. To do so necessarily involves challenging oppressive norms and ideologies within the faith. In this struggle, Charlie Hebdo has been an unwavering beacon of courage and inspiration.

Charlie Hebdo’s commitment to freedom of expression and their refusal to compromise in the face of violent threats resonate deeply with our work. Humor and satire have become invaluable tools in our advocacy, helping break taboos and  spark conversations that advance change

Whether it’s through memes, social media campaigns, satirical verses or public events like our Draw Muhammad Day Contest, we aim to follow Charlie Hebdo’s example: using wit and creativity to challenge dogma and encourage critical thought. Their example reminds us that satire can pierce through fear and inspire others to stand up for their rights, even when doing so feels perilous.

Charlie Hebdo’s legacy reminds us why this fight is necessary: without freedom of expression, there can be no meaningful freedom of conscience or pursuit of a just society. 

Charlie Hebdo’s cause remains essential. Their fearless defense of the right to critique religion inspires us to push forward, knowing that standing up for these values—even at great personal cost—is a vital step toward achieving equality, secularism, and freedom for all.

Meta's decision to scale back its fact-checking policies is a surprising move, which so far seems to be a positive for communities outside the typical Western scope of "approved" viewpoints. For groups that have faced censorship and repression, such as atheist and ex-Muslim communities around the world, this change offers a glimmer of hope. In the past, these groups including EXMNA were often banned, silenced, or shadow-banned by Facebook, often under the guise of "fact-checking" that aligned with certain political or cultural narratives. WikiIslam, run by EXMNA and the premier resource on a critical overview of Islam was banned from Meta last year. The platform's selective enforcement often undermined voices that critiqued non-Christian religions or questioned dominant societal norms.

Moreover, fact-checkers like Snopes and Politifact have shown how problematic "fact-checking" can be, particularly when they get key details blatantly wrong. For instance, Snopes inaccurately claimed that Muhammad was anti-slavery, despite the fact that he had multiple slaves including sex slaves documented in his pre-modern biographies. The Quran explicitly approves of sex slavery in verses such as the one in Surah An-Nisa (4:24). Moreover slavery was practised continuously in the Muslim world until abolished by Western pressure or force. This misrepresentation of historical and religious facts may not be overtly malicious but when entangled with outright censorship can distort our collective view of reality. Similarly, Politifact incorrectly deemed Reza Aslan's claim that female genital mutilation (FGM) is a "central African problem" as "mostly true," despite Hadiths explicitly endorsing a form of female circumcision and the problem being widespread in Shafi Islamic communities from the Pacific to the Atlantic. With Meta pulling back from this model, there’s a chance for those wishing for reform within their communities to have their day in the public square.

Persecution Tracker Updates

Our full entry on Mubarak Bala’s five-year ordeal, updated to reflect his release from prison, can be found here.

Our 2024 Persecution Tracker Report is available HERE. 

Until next week,

The Team at Ex-Muslims of North America

P.S. We’d love to hear from you! Share your feedback at [email protected].

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