Mina Ahadi, an Iranian exile now living in Germany, is a woman who has spent her life opposing the mistreatment of women by the Iranian clerical regime.
Mina was at university in 1979 at the time of the Iranian revolution and she was soon noticed by the authorities because she began to organise demonstrations opposing the compulsory veiling of women. She was forced to go underground to avoid arrest.
In 1980 her house was raided by the police and her husband and four friends were arrested. Mina wasn’t at home at the time. Her husband and the four arrested were all executed by firing squad soon after. She fled to Iranian Kurdistan in 1981, where she continued to struggle against the Islamic regime for the next ten years. In 1990 she went to Vienna. She moved to Germany in 1996 and has lived in Europe since then.
In all that time, Mina Ahadi has struggled for the rights of women. She founded the International Committee against Stoning – which now has over 200 branches throughout the world. She also heads the International Committee against Executions and is the spokesperson for the newly formed women’s rights organisation, Equal Rights. She formed the Central Council of ex-Muslims in Germany early this year to help people renounce Islam and religion should they so wish.
Apostasy, of course, is forbidden in Islam and in some Islamist states it carries the death penalty – including in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Mauritania. She calls such states “Islam-stricken” and her own experience of living and suffering under such regimes has made her ever more determined to rescue others from their clutches.
Mina was recently awarded a £5,000 prize for Secularist of the Year by the National Secular Society. In his statement honouring Mina Ahadi, Professor Richard Dawkins said:
“I have long felt that the key to solving the worldwide menace of Islamic terrorism and oppression would eventually be the awakening of women, and Mina Ahadi is a charismatic leader working to that end. The brutal suppression of the rights of women in many countries throughout the Islamic world is an obvious outrage. Slightly less obvious, but just as outrageous, is the supine willingness of western liberals to go along with it. It is worse than supine, it is patronising and condescending: “Wife-beating is part of ‘their’ culture. Who are we to condemn their traditions?” A religion so insecure as to mandate the death penalty for apostasy is not to be trifled with, and ex-Muslims who stand up and fight deserve our huge admiration and gratitude for their courage. Right out in front of this honourable band is Mina Ahadi. I salute her and congratulate her on this well-deserved award as Secularist of the Year.”
_______
For a moving article on how one woman abandoned the veil, click HERE.
Such people deserve the highest praise for their courage and their humanity.
The very fact that so much courage is necessary underlines the despicable nature of the Iranian regime.