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KurdistanObserver.com
Kurdish Secular Writer Under Threat
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Fri, 02/10/2006 - 22:29.
A petition, dated Feb. 9:
To: Kurdish Authorities
Campaign to defend the life and safety of
Marywan Halabjaye
Defend this secular writer against the threats of Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan!
Marywan Halabjaye is secular Kurdish write who
recently published a Book entitled Sex, Sharia and Women in the History of
Islam. In this book he discussed the status of women in Islam and according to
the text of the Quran. The book has received an overwhelming response from the
secular, progressive masses of Kurdistan.
Three of Kurdistan's Islamic parties, the
United Islamic Party, the Islamic League and the Islamic Movement, have started
to threaten Marywan Halabjaye and mobilise the Kurdish media against him and his
book. They have filed a complaint against the writer in a Sulaymania court and
are using mosques in many towns and villages to provoke people against him.
This is part of the ongoing drive of political
Islam to attack freedom of expression across the world and silence the voices of
those who are critical of the treatment of women in Islam. It is our task to
defend the right of secular, progressive and enlightened writers and thinkers to
express their ideas and thoughts without fear or intimidation.
We the undersigned condemn the reactionary
attack on Marywan Halabjaee and secularism in Kurdistan and argue strongly for
the Kurdish authorities to:
- Provide unconditional protection for Marywan and his family, who are now in
hiding.
- Guarantee protection of freedom of thought, expression and Association in
Kurdistan.
Houzan Mahmoud
Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq - UK Branch
Signatories at
PetitionOnline
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