In the future, "turning away from Islam" must be considered as a reason for asylum if the asylum seekers come from countries in which apostasy is persecuted as a crime. This is the objective of a campaign launched today by the initiators of the Critical Islam Conference.

The campaign text, written by Mina Ahadi (Central Council of Ex-Muslims), Hartmut Krauss (Hintergrund magazine) and Michael Schmidt-Salomon (Giordano Bruno Stiftung), says that "fleeing one's homeland is often the last chance for ex-Muslims to escape cruel punishments. So far, however, German courts have scandalously dismissed the dangers that threaten these people in their countries of origin, denying them the right to asylum."

A particularly striking example is the case of the Iranian dissident Siamak Zare, who in 2007 publicly declared within the campaign by the "Central Council of Ex-Muslims" that he had renounced Islam. The Administrative Court in Kassel ruled that turning away from faith in Zare's case was not a reason for asylum, as the "religious subsistence minimum", such as "prayer with like-minded people", was not endangered. "The judges obviously thought that a religion-free person could not be prevented from praying, since they have no interest in it anyway," explains Michael Schmidt-Salomon. "From this they concluded that religion-free people could not be persecuted religiously, which can hardly be outdone in absurdity! We all know that in reality it is quite the opposite!"

"In Iran alone, many thousands of nonreligious people have been murdered since the mullahs came to power," says Mina Ahadi. "Just a few days ago, a young man named Ehsan Fattahian was hanged for 'turning away from Islam'. I ask myself: In what world do these German judges exactly live? We will not accept the scandalous verdict against Siamak! In fact, we call on German politicians and the judiciary to finally ensure a more humane asylum policy!

Please support our petition "Asylum for ex-Muslims"! It can be signed here:

http://www.kritische-islamkonferenz.de/asyl.htm