A recent conference in London brought together feminists, ex-Muslims, lawyers, secularists, artists and campaigners to discuss the challenges faced by women who question, leave or challenge religion, including state repression, imprisonment, family coercion, social isolation and difficulties in rebuilding their lives.
Titled Leaving to Live: Women’s Blasphemy, Apostasy and Freedom, the conference examined how religious authority, state power and social pressures can restrict women’s freedom of belief, personal relationships and bodily autonomy. Organised around the question of “who gets to decide the terms on which we live?”, the gathering highlighted experiences ranging from imprisonment for blasphemy to women concealing their disbelief for fear of losing family support, housing or access to their children.
A central focus was the case of Moroccan feminist and human rights activist Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, who has been imprisoned in Morocco since 10 August 2025. Her sister, Siham Lachgar, described her long record of feminist activism and civil disobedience, as well as concerns about her deteriorating health in prison and the rejection of requests for medical release.
According to the conference statement, Betty has continued to express solidarity with other women prisoners and remains committed to her feminist principles. In words relayed from prison, she described herself as “revolutionarily free” despite being detained.
Betty’s lawyer, Ghizlane Mamouni, discussed the legal proceedings against her, the application of Article 267-5 of the Moroccan Penal Code and concerns about the consequences for her health. Mamouni warned that the case was “not only her story” but “a warning to all of us,” highlighting what she described as a wider climate of repression affecting activists, artists and others who publicly challenge established religious authority.
The conference also examined the wider implications of blasphemy laws and restrictions on apostasy. The first panel, on women’s blasphemy and resistance, featured Mamouni, Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, artist and ex-Muslim activist Haram Doodles, and Megan Manson, head of campaigns at the National Secular Society.
Gaylor discussed her organisation’s support for Lachgar and its decision to award her the 2026 Avijit Roy Courage Award, established with Bonya Ahmed in memory of the Bangladeshi-American atheist writer murdered in Dhaka in 2015.
Manson argued that freedom of religion or belief must include the freedom not to follow a religion and the right to criticise religious ideas. She emphasised the role of secularism in protecting both religious and non-religious people from the imposition of belief through the state.
The discussions also addressed the relationship between opposition to racism and resistance to religious fundamentalism, with participants arguing that defending minority communities from discrimination should not mean giving religious or community leaders control over women and dissenters within those communities.
The conference highlighted the difficulties faced by women who leave Islam but cannot openly disclose their beliefs. Participants discussed the consequences of family rejection, threats, social exclusion, economic dependence and pressure concerning clothing, sexuality, relationships and personal choices.
Giulia Tranchina, a senior associate solicitor at Wilson Solicitors LLP, spoke about asylum claims involving women whose decision to question or leave religion exposes them to danger in their countries of origin. Drawing on her work with refugees, apostates, political activists and LGBTQ+ people, she examined how freedom of belief can become inseparable from the right to seek asylum and live safely.
A tribute was also paid to the late Algerian feminist and internationalist Marieme Hélie-Lucas, founder of Women Living Under Muslim Laws and co-founder of Secularism Is A Women’s Issue. In a video message, feminist and human rights activist Yasmin Rehman recalled Hélie-Lucas’s insistence that women’s rights must not be subordinated either to religious fundamentalism or to communal and identity politics.
The tribute emphasised that it is possible to oppose racism and religious fundamentalism simultaneously, defend minorities against hatred and uphold a woman’s right both to practise her religion and to leave it.
Another session examined the psychological consequences of leaving high-control religious environments. Writer and feminist activist Rahila Gupta, a trustee of Southall Black Sisters, spoke with counselling psychologist Savin Bapir-Tardy about Leaving to Live: A Psychoeducational Guide for Ex-Muslims, a new publication by the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB).
The book draws on support-group experiences, clinical work and psychological research to address issues including coercive control, concealment, shame, fear, sexuality, bodily autonomy and identity. It also explores practical ways of rebuilding self-trust, establishing boundaries, managing grief and developing relationships after leaving a restrictive religious environment.
Bapir-Tardy stressed that recovery is not necessarily straightforward or uniform, saying, “There is no such thing as a successful recovery or a linear process.”
The final panel included Bapir-Tardy and ex-Muslim women Daisy, Esme and Lamah Al Saif, who shared experiences of concealment, isolation and the importance of support networks.
Al Saif, a Saudi-born ex-Shia Muslim activist who came to Britain as an asylum seeker, spoke about the loneliness she experienced as an ex-Muslim and queer woman. She said women’s support groups offered a space to discuss experiences of shame and social pressure that could be difficult to explain to others.
Esme, who described herself as an ex-Muslim and former hijab wearer, emphasised that leaving religion often follows years of questioning rather than a sudden decision. “When you tell somebody that you are an ex-Muslim, they think you just decided one day. It was years and years and years of questioning and going back and forth,” she said.
A statement from Daisy, who could not speak publicly under her own identity, described remaining closeted about her disbelief because she feared that her child could be used to pressure her into returning to Islam and that their relationship could be damaged.
The conference statement said these experiences demonstrated that women who leave religion face different forms of pressure depending on their circumstances. While Lachgar faces imprisonment and serious concerns about her health, other women may confront family rejection, surveillance, loss of financial support or housing, threats and fears concerning their children.
The publication Leaving to Live recognises that public disclosure is not always safe or possible, particularly for those dependent on family members or facing risks related to immigration status, finances, housing or personal security. It argues that freedom should be measured not by whether someone publicly declares their disbelief, but by whether they can question, disagree and leave without facing serious consequences.
Maryam Namazie, spokesperson for the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, drew a distinction between the circumstances of women imprisoned by the state and those controlled by their families, while arguing that both forms of coercion can restrict personal freedom.
“They are not the same, of course,” she said, “but both enforce the same system of control, teaching the same lesson: If you leave, if you speak up, you will pay.”
Namazie also argued that public apostasy and blasphemy make dissent visible and challenge the authority of religious institutions.
The conference included a screening of a Human Rights Tattoo film about Lachgar and an extract from Inna Shevchenko’s Gods and Girls. Participants also heard the premiere of Hurriyah (Freedom), a song for Lachgar produced by singer-songwriter Shelley Segal and South Africa’s Simhala Foundation, with Motown musician Lee Garrett and Lachgar. The gathering concluded with Segal’s Find Our Way to Freedom.
As the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain approaches its twentieth anniversary in June 2027, the organisation said it would continue its support, campaigning and public activities. It is raising funds for a conference titled Celebrating Dissent, scheduled to take place in London on 19 June 2027, and to distribute printed copies of Leaving to Live among people attending its support groups.
The conference was supported by Awards for All, the National Secular Society and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Its central message was that freedom to leave religion involves more than the right to change one’s beliefs: it also requires the ability to live without imprisonment, coercion, forced silence or fear, and to build a life on one’s own terms.
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