Central Council of Ex-Muslims
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| Founded | 21 January 2007 |
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| Focus | Representing people who left Islam |
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Key people
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Mina Ahadi, Arzu Toker, Nur Gabbari |
| Website | www.exmuslime.de/ |
The Central Council of Ex-Muslims (German: Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime, ZdE) is a German association (Verein) of non-religious, secular persons who were Muslim or originate from an Islamic country. It was founded on January 21, 2007 and has more than 100 members.
It has since opened branches in Britain and Scandinavia. A Central Committee for Ex-Muslims was also created in the Netherlands. The British chapter is affiliated with The Ex-Muslim Forum. Another Ex-Muslim grassroots group, Ex-Muslims of North America has launched independently in Canada and the United States and is now affiliated as well.
The Council was founded by about 30 ex-Muslims including Iranian women's rights activist Mina Ahadi (chairman), who was sentenced to death in 1981 in her home country; the Turkish-born publicist Arzu Toker (vice chairman); and Nur Gabbari, the son of an Iraqi clergyman.
Even in lands where execution for apostasy is prohibited, former Muslims are not sure of their lives, as their Muslim relatives may try to kill them. Chairwoman Ahadi has been put under personal security by German police after receiving death threats. Ahadi says that she and other members have been "terrorized".
The choice of the association's name is furthermore deliberate, as it is an allusion to the name of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, which represents approximately 20,000 of the over 3 million German Muslims, and whose name is an allusion to the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
The Central Council of Ex-Muslims receives support from the Giordano Bruno Foundation in Germany and according to its own claim also by the International League of non-religious and atheists, Bund für Geistesfreiheit München, as well as Humanistischer Pressedienst.
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Wikipedia