Depict the ‘prophet’ and win a prize
In the comments section of a piece I posted on May 13 – ‘IHEU condemns slaying of blogger‘ – ‘Brummie’ wrote ‘Draw the Prophet Competition anyone?’ The idea that the Freethinker should run the contest...
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Artist on trial for criticising politicians
Iranian artist Atena Faraghdani, above, has gone on trial in Iran for penning a cartoon criticising draft laws which would restrict access to birth control. The image by Faraghdani depicted MPs...
View ArticleAttempt to silence gay student backfires
Last month Evan Young, 18, above, wanted to tell his graduating class at Twin Peaks Charter Academy High in Longmont, Colorado, that he was gay. But the student was banned from delivering his...
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Iranian artist receives harsh jail sentence
Last month, in our report on the plight of Iranian artist and human rights activist Atena Faraghdani, above, who had gone on trial for posting ‘objectionable’ material on the Internet, it was pointed...
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Raif Badawi flogging: a call to action
Amnesty International has put out an urgent appeal to have tomorrow’s flogging of Raif Badawi stopped. AI said in a statement issued today: We need you to put Raif’s case in the headlines once again....
View ArticlePastor faces jail for calling Islam ‘satanic’
Northern Ireland preacher James McConnell, 78, who last year branded Islam as ‘Satanic’, could be jailed for up to six months for contravening NI’s 2003 Communications Act. According to this report,...
View ArticleYee’s Facebook page mystifies prison staff
Exasperated prison authorities in Singapore are scratching their heads, wondering how the Facebook page of imprisoned atheist blogger Amos Yee, above, continues to be updated. Today, for example, this...
View ArticleIceland scraps its blasphemy law
Churches in Iceland – with the exception of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland headed by Agnes M Sigurðardóttir, above – have reacted with outrage to the news that the country is to repeal its...
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‘Drop case against Pastor McConnell’
The London-based National Secular Society (NSS) has added its voice to a growing number of organisations, both religious and secular, who are calling on the Northern Ireland authorities to drop a...
View ArticleBBC Raw’s Ciaran Varley sparks fury
BBC Raw is an online platform launched by the broadcaster in February to develop new talent and engage younger viewers in current affairs. But it now stands accused of being “too provocative” after...
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Mo cartoon event sparks a war of words
A war of words has broken out in the UK over a planned exhibition in London of cartoons of the ‘prophet’ Mohammed. On the one side is the exhibition’s organiser, Anne Marie Waters, above, and her...
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NSS attacks new UK banning orders
Extremism Disruption Orders’ (EDOs) are tough new restrictions planned by the UK Government to curb radicalisation by jihadists. But the new banning orders could be one of the biggest threats to...
View ArticleAtheist, 7, sparks Indiana lawsuit
A seven-year-old Indiana student was “banished” from sitting with his classmates at lunch after stating that he did not believe in God, according to a lawsuit which claims the school violated the...
View ArticleUAE enacts stealth blasphemy law
An ‘anti-hatred’ law recently passed by the the United Arab Emirates is designed to tackle ‘discrimination’, but it actively discriminates against non-believers. According to this report, the Vice...
View ArticleArabic Huff Post attacks gays, atheists
The Huffington Post, established to champion liberal values, stands accused of allowing its Arabic edition to besmirch its brand after the its new Middle Eastern site ran site articles that attacked...
View ArticleMohammed cartoon event cancelled in UK
‘Britain is a frightened nation, and our freedom is not going away, it has gone.’ So claims Anne Marie Walters who announced today that the Mohammed cartoon exhibition that she and others had planned...
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Butchered bloggers: UK Muslim arrested
Authorities in Bangladesh have arrested three men, including a British citizen – Touhidur Rahman, above – for their alleged involvement in the murders of two secular bloggers. The arrests follow a...
View ArticlePolitician jailed for insulting Islam
Malaysian politician David Orok, above, has been jailed for 16 months for insulting Islam and the ‘prophet’ Mohammed in a Facebook posting. Orok pleaded to sedition at his trial at Kota Kinabalu High...
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Bloggers appear on new Islamist hit list
An Islamic militant group in Bangladesh has issued a hit list of secular bloggers, writers and activists around the world, saying they will be killed if its demands are not met. Included in the list is...
View ArticleSecularist speaker barred from university
Ex-Muslim and outspoken secularist Maryam Namazie, above, has been branded as ‘too inflammatory’ to deliver a talk at Warwick University. Namazie today reports that she had been invited to speak at...
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