Please complete this form in block letters and post back or email to the address below along with payment before conference. If you are sending a cheque after 1 December, please also email the form to us so that we can add you to our list of participants.

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Please return this form via post to BM Box 1919, London WC1N 3XX, UK or email it to exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com or onelawforall@gmail.com.
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18 International Artists took part in the ‘Passion for Freedom’ competition organised by One Law for All.  The group show presents artists shortlisted in the First Stage of the competition.

The winners of EQ Award which stands for Equality were announced at the 20 November private viewing at UNIT24 Gallery located next to TATE Modern.

The Gallery was packed with guests.

During the ‘Little Bride’ preview screening some of the viewers had to stand outside and watch it through the gallery’s high ceiling windows.

The show is of the highest standard.

One of the judges, Terry Sanderson, praised the high quality of the works presented.

There was press present not only from the UK but from all over Europe.

Basia Leszczynska, one of the shortlisted artists says: ‘The theme posed a huge challenge for me. Sharia courts in Britain, how to approach it? I kept asking myself? I did not want to present it explicitly.
Painting is a different medium to film making, reportage. At the same time the message has to be clear, it has to shake people’s minds. It has to stay with them for longer and make them think. Using the shock tactic does not always work in art, especially when we are talking about abuse of justice and brutal treatment of another human being. I wanted to avoid drastic images as there are too many of them around us.’

The time and effort put into organising the event was well worth it given the reception the exhxibition received.

The gallery was buzzing with conversations and excitement. The problems and issues avoided by many were openly discussed. We succeeded in bringing the subject into the open.

‘There are regimes that are afraid of art, but artists are not afraid of regimes’, with these words Agnieszka Kolek, the artist and curator, opened an envelope with the EQ Award winners.

The winning artists selected by Singer/Songwriter Deeyah and National Secular Society President Terry Sanderson were:

1. Anna Sundt for ‘Cover up’ series

2. Roberta Coni for ‘Erasing her’

3. Svitlana Grebenyuk for ‘Ahmadinejad’

Maryam Namazie, One Law for All’s Spokesperson, gave a powerful speech stressing that in Britain there is silence over Sharia courts instead of condemnation. She said: ‘Sharia courts are not ‘just’ limited to civil matters. Just because they are denying women’s rights in the family rather than stoning women in city squares, one can’t say there isn’t a serious problem… We live in times that oblige us to stand up and be counted for!’

She stressed that the exhibited art is not only of the highest quality but is also a voice in defence of women’s rights.

An overcrowded gallery is not a common sight even in London, the capital of art!

John, a student at St. Martin’s College of Art, and one of the visitors says: ‘The show is amazing. I am impressed with the artists’ maturity and approach to the subject matter. I wasn’t aware of Sharia courts in Britain until now. It is really disturbing.’

‘I love Maja Wolna’s work. They are ascetic in their design but go straight to the point.’

‘And it shocks me when they tell me about religious laws.  How come women are still treated like this in the 21 century? And this law is applied in Britain? I am appalled.’

‘The show is amazing, interesting people, great food and wine. I will definitely follow the subject.’

Maryam Namazie’s speech at the event

Video from event

2011 ‘Passion for Freedom’ edition coming soon. Website: http://www.passionforfreedom.co.uk

You can submit your work to the preliminary stage of the competition at:

art.wave@onelawforall.org.uk

Read story | Photo Gallery | Video

Seminar on Sharia Law:
Maryam Namazie(Part 1)

Maryam Namazie(Part 2)

Yassi Atasheen(Part 3)

Pragna Patel(Part 4)

Pragna Patel(Part 5)

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown(Part 6)

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown(Part 7)

Denis MacShane(Part8)

Read story | Photo Gallery | Video

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Please take into consideration underground closures on the day

The rally aims to raise still further our opposition to Sharia and
religious-based laws in Britain and the world, including the imposition of
Sharia this year in Somalia and Pakistan’s Swat region and of the ‘rape
laws’ in Afghanistan. It also aims to show our solidarity with people
standing up to political Islam everywhere, including in Iran, and our
support for universal rights and secularism.  The rally will also defend the
right to asylum for those who have fled Sharia and calls for an end to
racism and cultural relativism.

Please try to come if you can. It is important for decent people everywhere
to stand up to the right-wing political Islamic movement and defend
humanity. Doing so will also help push back the far right in its attempts at
hijacking the issue of Sharia law to advance its anti-immigrant and racist
agenda.

Tell others about the rally and encourage them to join. Also please sign our
petition calling for a ban on Sharia law if you haven’t. Over 17,000 people
have done so already and they represent only the tip of the iceberg of
opposition.

Also don’t forget about our art competition, which is open to all artists.
We have already received some exciting pieces and hope to show them at a
gallery exhibition. The deadline for submitting any work exposing the
discriminatory nature of religious – based tribunals and encouraging equal
rights is November 1.

You can find out more about the rally, art competition, petition, our media
coverage, speaking engagements and other activities on our new and improved
website, thanks to Nick Djgrubson: http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/.

Please also sign up to the International Coalition for Women’s Rights if you
haven’t already done so. This is particularly important given that women
face the brunt of Sharia law. You can find out more here:
http://www.equalrightsnow-iran.com/discriminatory_laws.html

Another important initiative to support is Iran Solidarity. The suppression
of a 1979 people’s revolution by the Islamic movement changed the face of
the world; a revolution against the Islamic Republic of Iran will help to
break the back of the political Islamic movement internationally and herald
a new dawn. It is crucial for people everywhere to support the people of
Iran in their battle ahead. You can find out more and sign up to it here:
http://www.iransolidarity.org.uk/. If you are able to, please volunteer half
an hour in the upcoming year to do an act of solidarity with people of Iran
in Trafalgar Square from 1730-1800 hours. This has now been going on for
nine weeks. You can see the various acts here:
http://www.iransolidarity.blogspot.com/.

And do contact us if you would like to volunteer to help organise the rally,
submit art for the competition, invite us to speak at an event you are
organising or for more information. We also need help in supporting the
right to asylum for those who have fled Sharia law. You might have heard of
our success in securing the release from immigration detention of an ‘apostate’
ex-Muslim but he and others like him need more assistance to
gain their right to asylum.

And finally, don’t forget to donate to One Law for All. We urgently need
money to do all that still needs to be done to get rid of Sharia. Every bit
helps so please do take the time to send us a cheque made payable to One Law
for All or by donating via Paypal by visiting
http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/donate.html.

A public show of opposition is crucial at a time when Sharia law is on the rise
in many places and is being touted as a ‘right’ and a ‘choice’ when it is
anything but these things.

Contrary to the misinformation peddled by their proponents and the far Right,
Sharia courts are the demand of the political Islamic movement. They are not the
demand of ordinary Muslims or those labelled as Muslims (since there are just as
many differences of opinion and belief in all so-called Muslim communities as
among others). Do not forget that these very “Muslims” are the first victims
of and dissenters against Sharia law.

If it were really the desire of “Muslims” to be stoned to death for sex
outside of marriage, hanged for being gay, executed for being apostates, flogged
for eating during Ramadan, forcibly veiled and segregated from childhood,
Islamic states and the regressive Islamic movement would not need to resort to
such indiscriminate violence and brutality.

Only recently, this ‘cuddly’ Sharia law convicted Lubna Hussein of
‘indecency’ for wearing trousers in the Sudan, sentenced a man to be flogged
for drinking alcohol in Malaysia, and sentenced a 75 year-old woman, Khamisa
Sawadi to four months in prison, 40 lashes and deportation in Saudi Arabia for
meeting with two young men who were not relatives who brought her bread. Just
today, on October 11, 2009 – a day after the International Day against the Death
Penalty – the Islamic regime of Iran executed juvenile offender Behnoud Shojaee;
there are at least 160 juveniles on death row in Iran, including for
homosexuality, apostasy, sex outside of marriage and involvement in school or
street fights that have resulted in murder.

In this year alone, MPs in the Indonesian province of Aceh unanimously passed a
law which stones adulterers to death and Sharia was introduced across the
country in Somalia and in Pakistan’s Swat region. And as if Sharia law were not
enough for ‘liberated’ Afghanistan, its parliament recently passed a new
“rape law” for ‘Shias’ which requires, among other things, that women submit
to sex with their husbands at least every four days, with few exemptions.

And it is not just men, women and children who are targeted by Sharia; even
mannequins (wax models) are. This week, again in Iran, the police warned
shopkeepers that they should not display female mannequins without a hijab or
showing bodily curves. The list goes on and on.

Of course, when it comes to Britain, Sharia councils and tribunals do not issue
stoning sentences but that is not because they think it is wrong to do so – it
is because this is the ‘duty’ of Islamic states. (Even here, though, Sharia
judges have been known to advocate stoning.) And whilst there is a significant
difference between letting Islamic courts and councils decide on civil matters
and giving them jurisdiction in criminal cases, this difference is a matter of
degree only; the fundamentals are the same. In fact, discriminatory family and
personal status codes are important pillars in the oppression of women in
Islamic states. Losing custody of your child at a pre-set age irrespective of
the child’s welfare, being told to remain in an abusive relationship or having
your forced marriage rubberstamped with the approval of these sham courts can be
just as destructive.

Whether in Pakistan, Somalia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan or Britain,
Sharia law concerns us because we are concerned about human rights and peoples’
freedoms. Sharia and religious laws in general do not belong to the 21st
century. We will not let the political Islamic movement drag us back to the
Middle Ages.

So November 21 is an important day for all of us to oppose Sharia and all
religious laws and defend human rights and secularism. Join us in London’s Hyde
Park from 1200 until 1400 hours. If you can’t come to London, why not organise
a rally or act of solidarity in the city centre where you live on the same day?
If you coordinate it with us beforehand, we could upload photos and film footage
of your acts on our website.

We will also respond every day beginning Monday 12 October to one question or
comment emailed to us or posted on our website here: [link] until November 20 so that we can
help to draw attention to this important campaign.

And please don’t forget to donate to One Law for All. We urgently need money to
do all that still needs to be done to get rid of Sharia. Every bit helps so
please do take the time to send us a cheque made payable to One Law for All or
by donating via Paypal by visiting http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/donate.html

Thank you.

We look forward to a successful rally in London and elsewhere.

Warm wishes

Maryam

Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
One Law for All
BM Box 2387
London WC1N 3XX, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 7719166731
onelawforall@gmail.com

www.onelawforall.org.uk