Program
DAY 1 DAY 2 Exhibitions
DAY 1 — AUG. 20, 2022
DAY 2 — AUG. 21, 2022

Exhibitions
Sara Nabil
In her spatial installations and photography, Sara Nabil combines themes of flight, dream and identity and campaigns for the equality of women and girls. The artistic work gives her back the voice that was takenfrom her in her home country.
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Atheists in Lebanon
Glimpses of some stories of discrimination, abuse, and human rights violations from atheists, freethinkers and non-religious individuals in Lebanon. The exhibition isbased on the findings of the “Case Studies” section of the multidisciplinary study “Atheists in Lebanon” (2021).
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Speakers Lineup
More than 50 speakers and artists from more than 30 countries around the world will be gathering at Celebrating Dissent 2022, to share their ideas and experiences in freethought and dissent, through discussions, poetry, films, and art performances.
Richard Dawkins
EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST AND AUTHOR
He is an Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford and was the University of Oxford’s Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book “The Selfish Gene”, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term “meme”. With his book “The Extended Phenotype”, published in 1982, he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism’s body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Dawkins is an atheist, and is well-known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design. In his most popular book, “The God Delusion”, published in 2006, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. He has been awarded many prestigious academic and writing awards and he makes regular television, radio and internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, his atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
Maryam Namazie
SPOKESPERSON – COUNCIL OF EX-MUSLIMS OF BRITAIN
Spokesperson for One Law for All and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born writer and activist. She is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom and a National Secular Society Honorary Associate. The Islamic regime of Iran’s media outlets have called Namazie ‘immoral and corrupt’ and she has been barred and no platformed for speaking out against Islam and Islamism and defending the right to apostasy and blasphemy. She was awarded the 2016 International Secularism (Laïcité) Prize from the Comité Laïcité République and was honoured by the National Secular Society for her campaigning work defending free speech at universities (2016). She was also awarded Atheist of the Year by Kazimierz Lyszczynski (2014), Journalist of the Year at the Dods Women in Public Life Awards (2013), selected one of the top 45 women of the year by Elle magazine Québec (2007), one of 2006′s most intriguing people by DNA, awarded the National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year Award (2005), amongst others.
Ensaf Haidar
COFOUNDER – RAIF BADAWI FOUNDATION
Ensaf Haidar is a Saudi-Canadian human rights activist and wife of Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger who was sentenced to ten years in prison and a thousand lashes in 2014 by the Saudi authorities, on the basis of blasphemy accusations. She left Saudi Arabia to Lebanon with her children when a fatwa was issued against her husband, before his arrest, then to Canada, where she resides since then. In 2015, Haidar accepted, on her husband's behalf, the Sakharov Prize for human rights awarded by the European Parliament. Haidar was nominated as a candidate in the 2021 federal elections by the Bloc Québecois. Ensaf Haidar and Raif Badawi share the honorary membership at the Cambridge Union since 2019, and were awarded the International Laïcité Award in 2018 by the Comité Laïcité République, and the Deschner Prize in 2016 by the Giordano Bruno Foundation. Ensaf received the Golden Victoria Prize in 2017 from the VDZ night publisher, Henry Zumach Award in 2018 from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, as well as other awards.
Ibn Warraq
SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW - WESTMINISTER INSTITUTE
Ibn Warraq studied Arabic and Persian at the University of Edinburgh and is the best-selling author of “Why I am not a Muslim” (1995). This book was a warning to the West about the dangers of political Islam and multiculturalism. Since 1998, Ibn Warraq has edited several books of Koranic criticism and on the origins of Islam: “The Origins of the Koran” (1998), “The Quest for the Historical Muhammad” (2000), “What the Koran Really Says” (2002), “Which Koran?” (2011), and “Christmas in the Koran” (2014). Ibn Warraq’s “Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said’s Orientalism” (2007) was described by Paul Berman as “a glorious work of scholarship and it is going to contribute mightily to modernizing the way we think about Western civilization and the rest of the world.” In “Why the West is Best” (2011), Ibn Warraq again defends Western civilization and seeks to regain Western civilizational self-confidence and to alleviate the Western burden of guilt about slavery and colonialism pointing out that Islamic civilization was a greater slaver, greater colonialist, and destroyed many cultures when it imposed Islam. The West, on the other hand, was the first to abolish slavery, and preserved, and encouraged the study of, non-Western cultures.


Sami Abdallah
PRESIDENT – FREETHOUGHT LEBANON
A diligent Lebanese civil society activist residing in Germany, Sami Abdallah is a theoretical physicist by profession. He has worked extensively to fight against discrimination and the negative social stereotypes that vilify atheists in Lebanon and the Arab World, and has been closely involved in offering protection to those who have been threatened because of their atheism. Sami is the cofounder and president of Freethought Lebanon, created in 2007 as an initiative that aims to empower freethinkers in Lebanon in order to promote humanism, encourage critical thinking, disseminate secular values, and protect freethinkers at risk.
Mazen Abou Hamdan
COFOUNDER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF – FREETHOUGHT LEBANON
Mazen Abou Hamdan is a civil rights activist and a leading expert on Peacebuilding and Good Governance in Lebanon. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of “Freethought Lebanon”, an initiative that aims to empower freethinkers in order to promote humanism, encourage critical thinking, and disseminate secular values. Mazen has been highly involved in the struggle to legalize civil marriage in Lebanon and has worked extensively on projects related to nonviolent strategies for social change, human rights education, and conflict resolution in Lebanon and the MENA region
Mina Ahadi
COFOUNDER – CENTRAL COUNCIL OF EX-MUSLIMS, GERMANY
Mina Ahadi is an Iranian-Austrian communist political activist and member of the Central Committee and Politburo of the Worker-communist Party of Iran. She is opposed to faith-based laws and promotes citizenship rights and one secular law. Ahadi is also the main figure of International Committee Against Executions and International Committee Against Stoning. She is also the main founder of the German Central Council of Ex-Muslims, which aims to break the taboo that comes with renouncing Islam and to oppose apostasy laws and Islam.
Rana Ahmad
FOUNDER – ATHEIST REFUGEE RELIEF
Rana Ahmad is a Syrian/Saudi-Arabian ex-Muslim activist, women’s rights campaigner, and founder of the Atheist Refugee Relief. She is a pop science blogger and editor, a member of Giordano-Bruno-Stiftung, and a member of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Germany. After she discarded her religion, she had to escape because she was threatened with death by her family and the government in Saudi Arabia. Rana hopes to help all girls to be free.
Sohail Ahmad
WRITER AND ACTIVIST – REASON ON FAITH
Sohail Ahmad is an ex-Muslim, ex-Ahmadi writer who is more commonly known by his social media alias “Reason on Faith”. Sohail began his activism in 2016. In 2019, after years of activism and organizing behind the scenes, Sohail released his first video entitled ‘Why I am Leaving Islam and Ahmadiyyat’. Sohail’s journey of questioning had begun at the age of 19. Until recently, Sohail has co-organized the Toronto Chapter of Ex-Muslims of North America and organized the Toronto Chapter of Muslimish. Currently, he is an organizer in Ex-Muslims of Toronto
Jimmy Bangash
PSYCHOTHERAPIST, SPOKESPERSON FOR CEMB
Jimmy Bangash is a Psychotherapist specialised in working with ExMuslims and Muslim heritage LGBT in an international context. His current research explores how ExMuslims experience psychotherapy and the effects it has on them. He is a Spokesperson for the Council of ExMuslims of Britain and works with several other organisations providing mental health support and bringing awareness to the plight of apostates and LGBT in Islamic communities.
Savin Bapir-Tardy
LECTURER IN PSYCHOLOGY - UNIVERSITY OF WEST LONDON
Bapir-Tardy conducted her doctoral research at City University into how traumatic events are experienced. She has worked with adolescents, adults and older adults in a variety of mental health settings. She worked for 8 years as a Counselling Psychologist at the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) providing psychological therapy to women who have experienced “honor”-based violence, forced marriage, domestic violence and female genital mutilation. Bapir-Tardy also provided training to professionals in mainstream mental health services on “honor”-based violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
Dan Barker
COPRESIDENT – FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION
Co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation, Dan Barker is also a contributing editor of Freethought Today, the foundation’s newspaper, cohost of Freethought Radio, and is involved with the foundation’s state/church lawsuits. He travels the world giving lectures, performing concerts, and participating in debates with theists, many at college and university campuses. He was a teenage evangelist at age 15, was ordained in 1975 as a preacher, served as associate pastor in three Californian churches, and maintained an ongoing touring musical ministry for 19 years. Barker is also an accomplished pianist, record producer, arranger and songwriter, who worked with Christian music companies such as Manna Music and Word Music. Following five years of reading, Dan gradually outgrew his religious beliefs. He announced his atheism publicly in January 1984. He tells his story in the books “Losing Faith in Faith” (1992) and “Godless” (2008).
Wissam Charafeddine
COFOUNDER – MUSLIMISH
Wissam Charafeddine is an Arab-American thinker, activist, author, entrepreneur, educator, and engineer. He has a Masters Degree in Software Engineering from the University of Michigan Dearborn, and is an Optimization Expert at W Design and Development. He is also a Family and Community Engagement Liaison at HES School District. He is a published poet, with three published works: The Opposite Swings, Climbing Leaves, and Pains. He is also the author of the “Awaited Arab State: The Awaited Confederation Project of the Arab World”. Wissam is also a hyper-entrepreneur, and a founder of multiple nonprofit organizations. In addition to his academic background, he has an extensive background in Islamic Studies, activism, Arabic history, and identity issues.
Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury
PUBLISHER - SHUDDHASHAR
Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury is the publisher and editor of free speech magazine and publication Shuddhashar. He started Shuddhashar as a little magazine in 1990 and opened a publication house in 2004. He survived an assassination attempt by Islamist extremists in Bangladesh and currently lives in exile. He is the winner of the Shahid Munir Chowdhury best publisher Award 2013, PEN Pinter International Writer of Courage Award 2016, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Award 2016, and the Norwegian PEN’s Ossietzky Prize 2018. He has been invited to speak at the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Deutsche Welle Media Conference, Oslo Freedom Forum, and several international universities and literature programs.
Yahya Ekhou
FOUNDER – LIBERALS NETWORK MAURITANIA
Yahya Ekhou is a secular humanist writer, an ex-muslim activist and human rights campaigner, and member of Atheist Refugee Relief. Ekhou is the founder of Liberals Network Mauritania.
Nadia El Fani
FILM DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, AND SCREENWRITER
Nadia El Fani is film-maker living in France, who risks arrest and up to five years in prison if she returns to Tunisia after Islamists filed a complaint against her for her film “Neither Allah nor Master”. The film is an account of Tunisian life immediately before and after the fall of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. Others films she made include “Ouled Lenine” and “Our Breasts, Our Weapons!”.
Annie Laurie Gaylor
COPRESIDENT – FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION
Co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation, Annie Laurie Gaylor is the author of several books, including “Woe to the Women: The Bible Tells Me So” and “Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children”. She is the editor of “Women Without Superstition: No Gods, No Masters”, and was the editor of Freethought Today, FRFF’s newspaper, until 2015. Gaylor received the Humanitarian Heroine Award in 2010 from the American Humanist Association. She is on the Speakers’ Bureau of the Secular Student Alliance, and has participated as a speaker in conferences, such as the 2012 Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, Australia.
Ana González
LAWYER, ASYLUM SOLICITOR, AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Ana is a lawyer (solicitor) and partner at Wilson Solicitors LLP in London. She defines herself as an ex-Catholic, atheist and freethinker. An internationally recognized expert in gender and sexuality-based asylum claims, Ana also trained in British Nationality, European and Public Law. Ana has an extensive expertise in representing vulnerable and marginalized individuals, such as victims of human trafficking, apostates, and transgender individuals. Over the last 20 years, Ana has secured refugee status for hundreds of clients, including ex-Muslims and other freethinkers. Ana has been involved in advising EEA nationals on Brexit at a number of public events, including a session at the Houses of Parliament and the London School of Economics. She is also a volunteer lawyer for the Council of Ex Muslims of Britain as well as for Micro Rainbow International.
Mohamed Hisham
BOARD MEMBER – ATHEIST REFUGEE RELIEF
Mohamed Hisham is an Egyptian Electronics Engineer who appeared in a live Egyptian television talk show to talk about atheism, which led to abuse and vilification during the show form the host and other guests, and to threats to his life in Egypt afterwards. He delved into Islamic studies incentivized by the Sharia sentence on his sexual orientation, and eventually left Islam. He aspires for a Middle East that respects human rights and civil liberties through embracing science and humanistic values instead of dogmatic doctrines.
Fauzia Ilyas
FOUNDER – ATHEIST AND AGNOSTIC ALLIANCE PAKISTAN
Fauzia Ilyas is a human rights activist and ex-Muslim. After an arranged and unhealthy marriage, she started to doubt the existence of God. She became known for founding Atheist and Agnostic Alliance Pakistan where the state religion is Islam and apostasy leads to death. Since then, she has been a subject of several death threats. In 2015, Fauzia sought asylum in the Netherlands because her family members and religious fanatics threatened her life. Instead of protecting her, the authorities threatened to arrest her for blasphemy. Fauzia won the Kazimierz Lyszczynski Foundation Atheist of the Year (2017) in Warsaw.
Zara Kay
FOUNDER – FAITHLESS HIJABI
Zara Kay is a Tanzanian ex-Muslim atheist activist, based in Australia. Zara is the founder of Faithless Hijabi, a platform to enable Ex-Muslim women to share their stories about their journey from religion to reason.
Khadija Khan
JOURNALIST AND COMMENTATOR
Pakistani journalist and commentator based in the UK, Khadija Khan writes about human rights, mainly women’s rights, as well as minorities, extremism, and Islamism. She is an advocate for women’s rights, who strongly believes that religion infringes on women’s rights and Islam is no exception. She denounces the idea of Islamic feminism, since finding refuge for women’s rights under organized religion is not more than a myth. Being a humanist, she believes in tolerance and equality for all human beings. She criticizes the usage of blasphemy laws as a tool to crackdown on dissent and supports freedom of and from religion. She stresses the need of having freedom of speech to counter extremist ideologies in her write ups. She believes that freedom to challenge bad idea is the most effective way to counter extremist narratives.
Nuriyah Khan
YOUTUBER – HOLY HUMANIST
British Pakistani aspiring lawyer and activist who mostly grew up between Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Nuriyah has a YouTube channel called Holy Humanist. Holy Humanist is a platform dedicated to exploring the dogma of Islam, human rights, freedom, oppression, and the surrounding socio-political issues, with a strong emphasis on women’s rights.
Betty Lachgar
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, LEADER - M.A.L.I
Betty Lachgar is a clinical psychologist specialized in violence against women and sexual violence. She is the Leader of M.A.L.I (Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles - Alternative Movement of Individual Liberties), a universalist, feminist, and secularist movement. She initiated the first LGBT movement in Morocco in 2012, the IDAHOT. Her work is censored by the majority of organisations in Morocco, even progressive and feminist ones. Ibtissame has been the victim of sexual assault by the police whilst in custody for her protests in Sept 2016. There is a trial in progress against her and she has faced numerous threats as a result of her work and fight against the socio-religious inquisition.
Lilith Raza
EX-MUSLIM AND LGBTI+ ACTIVIST
Lilith Raza is a queer trans activist from Pakistan who has lived in Germany since 2012. She promotes the rights of LGBTIQ+ refugees, works for the LSVD’s “Queer Refugees Deutschland” project (Gay and Lesbian Federation in Germany), and is active in queer networks throughout Europe.
Marieme Helie Lucas
FOUNDER – SECULARISM IS A WOMEN’S ISSUE
An Algerian sociologist, political theorist, and author, Marieme Helie Lucas was born in Algeria to a ‘family of feminists’ and had been active in the liberation struggle of Algeria. She is founder and former International Coordinator of Women Living Under Muslim Laws, a solidarity network that provides information, support and a collective space for women. She is also the founder of Secularism Is A Women’s Issue, which focuses on the threat of the erosion of secular spaces and of formal secularism, and challenges all forms of fundamentalisms.
Houzan Mahmoud
COFOUNDER – CULTURE PROJECT
Houzan Mahmoud is a women’s rights campaigner, public lecturer and co-founder of Culture Project, a transnational project aiming to to raise awareness about feminism and gender in Kurdistan and diaspora. She has an MA in Gender Studies from SOAS, London University. She worked as a representative of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq for many years. She was born in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1973 and currently resides and works in London. Her articles have been published in The Independent, The Guardian, The Tribune, The New Statesman and others. Houzan has led many campaigns internationally, including campaigns against the rape and abduction of women in Iraq, and against the imposition of Islamic sharia law in Kurdistan and the Iraqi constitution. She has also led other campaigns against so called honour killings, and against violations of freedom of expression. She is the winner of 2016 Emma Humphrey’s Memorial Award.
Susanna McIntyre
PRESIDENT – ATHEIST REPUBLIC
Raised in a conservative Catholic family in the midst of a very liberal city, Susanna left religion around the age of 15, after she realized that she was bisexual and had attempted suicide, “therefore earning herself two fast-passes to hell and damnation”. The decision was clear for her: “cognitively suffer under the belief that she would be eternally tormented, or leave religion entirely and live free!” She’s president of Atheist Republic, which aims to providing community to atheists around the world. She’s most passionate about promoting secularism around the world, and protecting those activists brave enough to undertake this fight under the most dangerous of conditions.
Mimzy Vidz
YOUTUBER
Ex-Muslim YouTuber who discusses issues that Muslims and non-Muslims face. She is part of the movement to normalize ex-Muslims, put an end to blasphemy and apostate scrutiny in Muslim communities, and raise awareness of these problems. She is featured in the CEMB film “Women Leaving Islam”.
Armin Navabi
FOUNDER – ATHEIST REPUBLIC
Armin Navabi is a former Muslim from Iran and the founder of the Atheist Republic, a non-profit organisation with over one million fans and followers worldwide, that is dedicated to offering a safe community for atheists around the world to share their ideas and meet like-minded individuals. Armin was was indoctrinated in the Muslim tradition and has attempted suicide when he was 12, believing that this would get him into heaven. The devastation of that event motivated him to seek a better understanding of the nature and concept of God and religious belief. Armin’s journey led him to leave Islam and to become an atheist and to seek interaction with others to engage in thought-provoking and educational discussion. Armin is the author of the bestselling book “Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God”.
Helen Nicholls
HEAD OF OPERATIONS – NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
Helen Nicholls is a law graduate. Whilst studying for her law degree she gained an interest in law and religion. She has previously worked for a human rights organisation and in business. She was an NSS member and volunteer before she joined the staff in 2017. In her spare time, she runs a monthly group for fans of the author Terry Pratchett.
Pragna Patel
COFOUNDER –SOUTHALL BLACK SISTERS
Pragna Patel is the ex-director and founding member of Southall Black Sisters, a leading advocacy and campaigning center for minority women, and Women Against Fundamentalism. She was coordinator/caseworker and director for Southall Black Sisters (SBS) from 1982 to 2022 with a break in 1993 when she left to train and practice as a solicitor. For 40 years, she was at the helm of SBS and has been centrally involved in some of SBS’ most important cases and campaigns involving domestic violence, immigration and religious fundamentalism. She is also a member of Feminist Dissent and has written extensively on race, gender and religion.
Nada Peratović
FOUNDER – CENTER FOR CIVIL COURAGE
Nada Peratović is a solicitor and a feminist and humanist activist. In 2011, she founded the humanist and feminist association Center for Civil Courage in Croatia, which promotes humanism, secularism, civil courage and feminism in strengthening and protecting human rights, especially women’s rights, equality and in critically dealing with the past. In 2014, she wrote the humanist book “Humanism for Children” which was translated into 5 languages. She was a representative of various non-religious organizations at the UN in Geneva, the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and meetings of the European Parliament in Brussels. From 2017 to 2020, she was member of the board of directors of the Swiss Association of Free Thinkers and the European Humanist Federation (EHF). In September 2020, she founded the women's network “Brave Sisters” that has been actively supporting women who decide to terminate their pregnancy, providing them with all the essential information, moral support and accompaniment to the hospitals. One of her latest goals is to actively support the feminist empowerment of young humanist women and their association in regional and international sisterhoods. She lives and writes in Zurich.
Faribroz Pooya
TV PRODUCER – “BREAD AND ROSES” SHOW
Faribroz Pooya took part in the 1978 Iranian revolution before moving to the UK in 1979, where he studied economics and politics at Oxford Brookes and Birkbeck College, University of London. He founded the Iranian Secular Society and was a founding member of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. Pooya writes and comments on politics and secularism, and is the producer and co-host of the weekly political-social TV show “Bread and Roses” in Persian and English.
Milad Resaeimanesh
LEADER - COMMITTEE OF EX MUSLIMS SCANDINAVIA
Milad Resaeimanesh is a Leader in the Central Committee of the Ex-Muslims in Scandinavia. He also hosts a weekly TV program for the organisation.
Ali Rizvi
WRITER AND PODCASTER
Ali Rizvi is a Pakistani-born Canadian ex-Muslim writer and podcaster who explores the challenges of Muslims who leave their faith. Rizvi is the author of “The Atheist Muslim: A Journey From Religion to Reason”, published in 2016. It is a combination of personal biography and analysis of arguments in favour of rejecting Islam.
Halima Salat
EX-MUSLIM POET
Halima Salat is an ExMuslim Kenyan-Somali living in the Netherlands. She is an international journalist, poet and activist with a keen focus on sex-based rights for minority women. Halima left Islam in her late 20s motivated by the fact that she could not reconcile Islam's doctrines and the need for individual women to steer their own paths. She is the founder of the online community “Ex-Muslim Somali Voices” which supports apostates from the Somali community.
Nina Sankari
VICE PRESIDENT – KAZIMIERZ LYSZCZYNSKI FOUNDATION
Nina Sankari is a secular, atheist, and feminist activist and the vice president of the atheist Kazimierz Lyszczynski Foundation (Poland). Sankari is also cofounder and spokesperson of the International Association of Freethought. She writes and translated articles for the Polish and French freethinkers and feminist centers, such as Fakty I Mity, 50/50, ReSPUBLICA, La Raison, and Charlie Hebdo. She is the initiator and co-organizer of the yearly event Atheist Days in Warsaw, and has participated in several international conferences related to secularism, rationalism, atheism, women’s rights, and other political and social issues.
Amed Sherwan
ACTIVIST AND BLOGGER
Amed Sherwan is an Islam-critical activist and blogger from Erbil, Kurdistan (Iraq). He writes articles for Jungle World and the Humanist Press Service and participates in discussion panels promoting tolerance in Muslim communities and LGBTQI+ rights. He is a member of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims in Germany, where he resides since 2014. He was granted asylum in Germany in 2017 after fleeing his home country due to persecution, arrest, and torture for blasphemy. Sherwan published his autobiography together with Katrine Hoop in 2020 in “Thank God I am an Atheist”.
Inna Shevchenko
LEADER – FEMEN
Leader of Femen, topless activists against various manifestations of patriarchy, including dictatorship, religion, and the sex industry, Inna Shevchenko has published “Anatomie de l’Oppression” with Pauline Hillier. She was kidnapped and threatened by the Belarus KGB in 2011 and was granted political asylum in France. In July 2013, Shevchenko was the main inspiration for a new French stamp depicting Marianne. In December 2012, the French magazine Madame Figaro included Shevchenko in its list of the World’s Top 20 Iconic Women of the Year. Shevchenko is a speaker at conferences and a columnist for the international press. She was a speaker at a debate on freedom of speech in Copenhagen on 14 February 2015 with cartoonist Lars Vilks. During that speech a terrorist opened fire in the lobby of where the debate took place. Surviving the attack, Shevchenko later said: “Liberal voices should be louder than Kalashnikovs”.
Michael Schmidt-Salomon
GERMAN AUTHOR, PHILOSOPHER, AND PR MANAGER
German author, philosopher, and public relations manager, Michael Schmidt-Salomon is chairman of the Giordano Bruno Foundation since 2006, a humanist organization that is critical of religion, and has been referred to as Germany’s Chief Atheist by the press. He earned his PhD in educational theory in 1997 at the University of Trier, where he was a lecturer and a research assistant for 9 years, then joined the Institut d’Études Éducatives et Sociales in Luxembourg in 2022 as a lecturer. From 1999 to 2007, Schmidt-Salomon was editor of the journal MIZ (Contemporary Materials and Information: The Political Magazine for Atheists and the Irreligious). The main focuses of his work are science theory, anthropology, aesthetics, society theory, futurology, religious criticism, and ideology criticism, as well as practical ethics. His books include the “Manifesto of Evolutionary Humanism: A Plea for a Contemporary Culture” (2006) and “Die Kirche im Kopf” (The Church in the Head, 2007), but his most controversial book was “Wo bitte geht’s zu Gott? fragte das kleine Ferkel” (Which is the way to God, please? Little Piglet asked, 2007), a book for children described by the press as “Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion for children”, due to its criticism of religion. Schmidt-Salomon co-inspired Mina Ahadi’s foundation of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims in 2007, and co-organized the Kritische Islamkonferenz in 2008 and 2013.
Harris Sultan
AUTHOR AND PODCASTER
Harris Sultan is an Australian ex-Muslim atheist of Pakistani descent. Harris moved to Australia at the age of 19 and was exposed to the big wide world other than his hometown of Lahore, Pakistan, which eventually led him away from Islam. He published his book “The Curse of God” in December 2018.
Lisa-Marie Taylor
CEO AND COFOUNDER - FILIA
Lisa-Marie came to feminism in her late 30s and is quickly making up for lost time! Proud of the work that FiLiA does in creating and strengthening connections between Women locally, nationally and internationally Lisa-Marie believes that we are in the midst of the global Feminist revolution. “Feminists opened my eyes and ears. There was no going back. With immense respect and thanks to our foremothers. Sisterhood and Solidarity!”
Cemal Knudsen Yucel
FOUNDER – COUNCIL OF EX-MUSLIMS OF NORWAY
Born and raised in Turkey, Cemal Knudsen Yucel was active in the youth branch of an Islamist movement, Milli Gorus, which is a part of the Muslim Brotherhood. He is now an ex-Muslim atheist activist and founder and leader of Ex-Muslims of Norway. He writes articles, participates in debates and conferences related to apostasy, blasphemy, women’s status in Islam, Islamic reform, and political and social issues. He is helping to build the ex-Muslim community and promoting enlightenment work.
Artists Lineup
Victoria Gugenheim
BODY ARTIST, PRODUCER, PHOTOGRAPHER AND ACTIVIST
An award-winning body artist, producer, human rights activist, photographer and public speaker, Victoria Gugenheim is passionate about the necessity of merging art with science. Victoria’s art has been a lifelong quest of “de-othering” people through art, public speaking and personal aesthetic choice. Her art ranges from bodypainting, makeup, photography, sculpture, performances, installations, digital art, clothing design, drawing and painting with science and technology. She uses bodypainting as a way of empowering the human spirit, giving the person painted a new found confidence that can be life changing.
Sara Nabil
PHOTOGRAPHER, ARTIST, AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Sara Nabil is an Afghan photographer, artist, political scientist, and human rights activist. Nabil employs her photography and performances to protest and a critique of patriarchal structures – an essential means of shaping social change. In her spatial installations and photography, she combines themes of flight, dream and identity and campaigns for the equality of women and girls. The artistic work gives her back the voice that was taken from her in her home country. Sara Nabil was born in 1994 in the Afghan capital Kabul and went to school after the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001. As a teenager, she began to study modern art at the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan (CCAA). In 2008, she participated in an exhibition that was also shown in Germany. She then studied political science at Karwan University in Kabul beginning in 2013. Even then, as a women's rights activist and artist, she was threatened by the Taliban. In December 2014, she witnessed a suicide bombing at the university. A man blew himself up in front of her. For Nabil, it was a decisive turning point: “This time I survived, but next time I will die,” she recalls thinking. Shortly after, in February 2015, she took advantage of an invitation to a student conference in the Netherlands to ask for political asylum in Germany.
Nazmiye Oral
ACTRESS AND COFOUNDER OF ZINA FOUNDATION
Nazmiye Oral began her acting career in the 1990s in the Netherlands with series like Baantjer, Combat, Oppassen! and Westenwind. She also performed in De Gesluierde Monologen, The Suburb Safari, and in No Longer Without You, a play she wrote herself. The play was selected for the Holland Festival and Crossing the Line Festival in New York and has also been made into a documentary. Nazmiye has performed in television productions like A’dam E.V.A., Undercover, Moordvrouw and Oh Mijn Hemel, starred in the series Icarus: Zorgondernemer and In Vrijheid by Floor van der Meulen for which she was awarded Best Actress at the Netherlands Film Festival and at the Lucania Film Festival. In 2011 her debut novel ‘Zehra’ was released, for which she was nominated for the E. du Perron prize. She cofounded the Zina Foundation in 2003, a theatre initiative that travels through different neighborhoods in the Netherlands using local stories.
Shelley Segal
SINGER AND SONGWRITER
Shelley Segal is a singer-songwriter involved in secular activism. Her first record, “An Atheist Album” is a passionate response to dogmatic belief, inequality, religious oppression and the idea that only the devout can be grateful and good. The record gives a voice to the often-underrepresented views of non-religious people, the fastest growing minority in many countries. It also creates opportunities to discuss issues of secularism with the mainstream media. Her voice has taken her around the world including England, Australia and ten tours of the United States. She has released seven recording projects of her own and runs independent record label True Music where she works with other artists. An award-winning songwriter, powerful performer and explicit story-teller, Shelley uses her music not only to express the way she sees the world but to create the world she wants to see.
Veedu Vidz
COMEDIAN AND YOUTUBER
YouTube comedian who creates satirical videos on a range of topics mainly focusing on Islam. Veedu is an Ex-Muslim who enjoys engaging with his religious and cultural heritage by exploring different ideas and religious preachers in the form of parodies and discussions. Veedu is a free speech advocate and stands for individual rights.
Jenny Wenhammar
ARTIST, ART TEACHER, AND FOUNDER OF FEMEN SWEDEN
Jenny Wenhammar studied art in Venezuela and Portugal 1989-1993 and then art, decorative painting and art therapy in Sweden. She was an art teacher at a Montessori school from 2006-2007. After a year of sailing 2007-2008, she studied at the School of Architecture LTH and 2009-2016 psychology at Lund University with a specialization in environmental psychology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. In 2006, the Green Party recruited her to municipal politics in Svalöv. In the autumn, she joined the municipal board. In 2012, she opposed a demolition that the municipality decided. She became an activist to stop the demolition, but the property was still leveled. In 2013, she left politics in protest. But in 2014 he was convinced to come back and in February was put up for election to the Riksdag list in western Skåne. In the spring of 2012, she had become an activist in Femen and founded Femen Sweden. She has since participated in several actions in Sweden. An action in Almedalen in 2014 received a great deal of attention and tangible consequences. It led to her receiving an ultimatum from the Green Party: either continued parliamentary candidacy or continued Femen activism. Her art and activism are clearly united. It’s performance, body art, and image. Recurring themes are the right of women and the de-sexualization and liberation of the naked female body. She has devoted a large part of her art to painting vulvae, like Carolina Falkholt, among others.