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Irreligion in Yemen is uncommon among Yemenis, as Islam is the predominant faith. [1] It is difficult to quantify the number of atheists in Yemen, as they are not officially counted in the census of the country. There is a great stigma attached to being an atheist in Yemen, so many Yemeni atheists communicate with each other via the internet. [1]

The punishment for leaving Islam in Yemen is the death penalty. [1] [2] [3] [4]

The former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1967-1990) practiced state atheism. [5]

Persecution by Muslims

In response to the 2013 Sana'a attack, a Yemeni woman from Bajil in Hudaydah declared converting from Islam to Christianity and immediately, the government put her under investigations, after a chance timeout, sent her to a psychiatric hospital. [6] [7] By the end of 2013, a new page was founded on the Facebook and encouraging non-religious Yemenis to show up and not to get afraid of the wild community reaction. [8]

There has been also a broad misconception between secularism and atheism or even being non-religious, many activists were kidnapped due to that confusion, examples including the following events:

  • On 4 September 2015, a secular activist named Anwar Al-Wazir was kidnapped in Taiz in front of his family for being secular. [9] [10]
  • On 26 April 2016, a 17-year old activist named Omar Bataweel was accused for atheism and killed in Aden. One of his famous quotes was "They accuse me of atheism! Oh you people, I see God in the flowers, and you see Him in the graveyards, that is the difference between me and you". [11] [12]
  • On 15 May, 2017 Amjad Abdulrahman, a friend of Omar, was also murdered in Aden for apostasy. His family was prevented from burying him in his area and from doing Muslim funeral prayer. [13] [14] [15]
  • on 5 Sept, 2020 an 18-year old named Luai Saddam, found dead in his home just after one day of his controversial Facebook post. A picture showed him with a rope around his neck as if he has committed suicide while it is suspected he was murdered due to his anti-religion posts. [16] [17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Mamari, Iscander (11 March 2014). "Yemen's Atheists, Banned by Islamic Law, Find Safe Haven Online". Media Line. Archived from the original on 23 March 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  2. ^ Robert Evans (9 December 2013). "Atheists face death in 13 countries, global discrimination: study". Reuters.
  3. ^ "Of little faith: world's most dangerous places for atheists". Channel 4. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  4. ^ "Laws Criminalizing Apostasy". Library of Congress. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  5. ^ "Yemen: The Tribal Islamists". Wilson Center. 27 August 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  6. ^ The Yemeni government puts Fatima Al Salem in a psychiatric hospital after converting Christianity - Radio Sawa (Arabic article, Google translation)
  7. ^ sedevacantisme (15 February 2014). "Fatima Mohammed al-Salem convertie au Christ et persécutée pour Lui". Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  8. ^ IrreligiousYemenis- a social page for the non-religion followers of Yemeni community
  9. ^ "Killing Anwar Alwazir in front of his kids (Arabic)". Archived from the original on 2017-08-10. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  10. ^ Who Killed Anwar Alwazir (Arabic)
  11. ^ Omar Mohammad: The 17 Year Old Martyr Of Arab Free Thought and Speech
  12. ^ Yemeni accused of atheism is murdered
  13. ^ In Aden, Yemeni activists still live in fear
  14. ^ "Gunmen Kill a Human Rights Activist at an Internet Cafe in Aden". YemenExtra. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  15. ^ "Activist in Aden shot dead by unknown gunmen". womenpress.org. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  16. ^ A body of dead young man found in his home after one day of his 'atheism' post
  17. ^ last post of Laui's page on facebook
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