Hello Again
This week, our Unbelief Brief travels back to Iran where hijab enforcement has ended in predictable retreat. In Italy, the ruling party’s sweeping face-covering ban risks mirroring the authoritarianism it claims to oppose. Yet amid these power plays, a small but meaningful victory emerges in the UK.
We also highlight two new cases in our Persecution Tracker, and this week’s Community Updates brings a bit of “ear candy” from EXMNA’s own Aysha Khan, ex-Muslim cartoonist Haram Doodles, and a fascinating Radiolab episode featuring ex-Muslim scientist Aalaa al-Shamahi.
Unbelief Brief
It took only a few days for Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, a conservative member of Iran’s Expediency Council, to walk back his comments about mandatory hijab laws being “unenforceable.” In last week’s edition of this newsletter, we outlined some very striking comments he made, which explicitly criticized the concept of mandatory hijab. After receiving fierce backlash from the country’s militant hardliners, he has now “clarified” his previous comments, “demanding punishment for those who challenge” the mandatory hijab.
Such a reversal was probably inevitable in Iran, where the legitimacy of the government is increasingly accepted only by the most ultra-conservative. Nevertheless, this walkback does not change the reality on the ground, which Bahonar alluded to in his initial comments: women, particularly urban and educated women, are increasingly refusing to abide by the Islamic Republic’s modesty codes. Furthermore, there is still very little the authorities can do about this without risking unmanageable public discontent.
In Europe, Italy’s ruling party is seeking a very broad ban on face coverings. This is not a limited regulation applying only to government workers or educational settings, but a full prohibition on “garments covering the face in all public places, schools, universities, shops, and offices nationwide.” Islamic face veils are indeed a repressive tool used to keep women “in their place,” but for many women, they also become a sentimental marker of Muslim identity. This combative and authoritarian approach is not the best way to address the misogyny at Islam’s core, and it may serve to deepen resentment among Italy’s Muslim minority—the opposite of its goal of integration.
Over in the UK, an increasingly rare positive development: Hamit Coskun, who was previously convicted of disorderly conduct for burning a Qur’an in public, has won his appeal. This is particularly welcome news, given that the man who attacked him with a knife for burning the Qur’an was spared from imprisonment last month. The judge presiding over Coskun’s appeal emphasized the importance of free expression in a liberal democracy, a cause at the heart of EXMNA’s own advocacy. We welcome this reversal as a victory for freedom of conscience in the face of religious repression.
Persecution Tracker Updates
Two cases from the past month in Bangladesh paint an unflattering picture of the country’s human rights trajectory. First, a young man was arrested for alleged blasphemy; and second, a university student struggling with mental illness was attacked and arrested for the same offense. Read about these cases here and here, respectively.
Community Updates
Missed us at California Freethought Day? Don’t worry, now you can experience it for yourself! The full live recording is available here, featuring Aysha Khan’s powerful speech at 1:51:30 and Haram Doodles’ origin story at 2:20:50.
And while you’re in the mood for thought-provoking content, the popular podcast Radiolab recently featured a fascinating interview with Aalaa (Ella) al-Shamahi—a British ex-Muslim evolutionary biologist—who shares how studying evolution at university ultimately led her to leave Islam. Listen to the episode “Creation Story” here.
Until next week,
The Team at Ex-Muslims of North America
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