Mina Ahadi, chairwoman of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims, is winner of the £5,000 Irwin Prize for Secularist of the Year. She prevailed against her competitors Sam Harris and Michel Onfray.

British evolutionary theorist and religious critic Richard Dawkins will receive the Deschner Prize at a public ceremony in Frankfurt on October 12. The prize is awarded by the Giordano Bruno Stiftung (gbs) and is worth €10,000.

With his seminal works on evolutionary theory, and also in particular with his book The God Delusion, which will finally be published in German in September 2007 under the title Der Gotteswahn, Dawkins has made an outstanding contribution to strengthen secular, scientific, and humanistic thinking, explained the gbs directorate.

The event "Nazanin Fatehi is Free" provides first-hand information on the successful campaign "Save Nazanin! A successful campaign against the death penalty in Iran", which will take place on Sunday, February 11, at the University of Frankfurt. First and foremost, the two main activists of the rescue campaign will describe their experiences: Nazanin Afshin-Jam, who represented the action very professionally in the media worldwide, thanks to her experience as a singer and former Miss Canada, and Mina Ahadi, who established necessary connections in the background as coordinator of the International Committee against Executions and Stoning.

Last Friday (October 20, 2006), the Humanistischer Pressedienst (hpd - Humanistic Press Service) was officially presented to the public at a press conference in the Berlin City Hall.