Let her go

From the National Secular Society:

Secularist, interfaith and human rights groups have united to call for Government action to free a Moroccan activist jailed for ‘blasphemy’ over a t-shirt she wore in London.

The National Secular Society and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) have coordinated an open letter to foreign secretary Ed Miliband MP calling for “urgent and decisive UK intervention” in the case of Ibtissame Betty Lachgar (pictured), who has spent over a year in a Moroccan prison.

The letter, whose 15 signatories include Index on Censorship, Humanists International and the All Faiths Network, says Lachgar’s imprisonment not only represents a “grave violation of international human rights law”, but also “establishes a dangerous extraterritorial precedent with direct implications for people in the United Kingdom”.

Blasphemy is perhaps the most basic human right there is. The right and freedom to ignore all the claims about magic giant sky-dwelling men who have authority over us are essential to freedom of thought as well as freedom of speech and headgear.

Lachgar, a renowned human rights activist, was arrested in August 2025 and sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment for sharing a photograph of herself in London wearing a t-shirt reading “Allah is Lesbian.” The t-shirt was originally worn to condemn the death sentences of two lesbians in Iran.

Lachgar was convicted under Article 267-5 of the Moroccan Penal Code, which criminalises “insults” against Islam. The letter warns this effectively extends Morocco’s blasphemy laws “beyond its borders, raising deeply troubling implications”.

There is no Allah in London and there is no Allah in Morocco either. There is no Allah. Deal with it. The Allah-God-Whatever myth is a human invention, because life on earth is scary.

Let her go.