Monday, July 29, 2013

TwL Live! - Special guest Maryam Namazie

Zulufightrunner, Martymer81 & J speak to Maryam Namazie.

Maryam Namazie (born 1966) is an Iranian-born activist, commentator and broadcaster.

Namazie was born in Tehran but left with her family in 1980 after the 1979 Iranian Revolution was suppressed by the Islamic movement. She has worked as the executive director of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees and is spokesperson for the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia law in Britain. The campaign is opposed to faith based laws and promotes citizenship rights and one secular law for all. She is also Spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain which aims to break the taboo that comes with renouncing Islam and to oppose apostasy laws and political Islam.

Moreover, she is a National Secular Society Honorary Associate and the NSS' 2005 Secularist of the Year award winner; Spokesperson of Equal Rights Now - Organisation against Women's Discrimination in Iran; and Central Committee member of the Worker-communist Party of Iran. She is involved with Iran Solidarity, which she founded, and the International Committee against Stoning among other activities. She was selected one of the top 45 women of the year 2007 by Elle Quebec.

She has spoken at numerous conferences and written many articles on women's rights issues, violence against women, political Islam, and secularism - some of which have been translated into various languages.

Previously, Namazie was the elected Executive Director of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees, a refugee run organisation with 60 branches in 15 countries worldwide and founded the Committee for Humanitarian Assistance to Iranian Refugees (CHAIR). She also hosted and produced a weekly TV International programme broadcast in the Middle East via New Channel TV.

After the Muhammad cartoons controversy, she, together with 11 other activists, published a declaration named MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism. MANIFESTO portrayed the rise of Islamism as a new totalitarianism.

On 15 September 2010, Namazie, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.
Maryam Namazie currently lives in the United Kingdom.

Council of Ex-Muslims : http://ex-muslim.org.uk/
One Law For All          : http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/
Maryam's Blog            : http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie
Maryam's Website       : http://www.maryamnamazie.com/