Foundation
The Council was founded by about 30 ex-Muslims including Iranian women's rights activist Mina Ahadi (chairperson), who was sentenced to death in 1981 in her home country; the Turkish-born publicist Arzu Toker (vice chairperson); 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.
Read more about this topic: Central Council Of Ex-Muslims
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