Irreligion in Yemen

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. 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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