Mina Ahadi, an Iranian-born woman, founded the society in Cologne with 10 sympathizers several weeks ago and called it the National Council of Ex-Muslims. At the end of February she called a news conference in Berlin to publicly pronounce herself non-Islamic.
The police have assigned plainclothes bodyguards to protect her ever since.
“I’m a target,” said Ahadi, 50. She said members of her society had received letters telling them they would be shot in the back. When she went online with a fierce attack on Islamic organizations, somebody circulated a statement suggesting she was fit to be killed, she said.
Mainstream Muslims have not stooped to such behavior, but have coolly set out why they think Ahadi is wrong.
Ahadi, who has lived in Germany since 1996, has also received a degree of support.
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“We are going to get involved in politics, oppose women wearing headscarves and oppose building plans for mosques,” she said.
Compelled to organize
Referring to practices many Germans believe are typical of Islam, she said, “We’ll stop honor killings, stop people being stoned to death… We want to make clear that the three million to three and a half million people from Islamic nations who live in Germany are people first and foremost, and should not be branded primarily as ‘Muslim,'” she said.
Read more: DW
