The recent arrest and detainment of Australian citizen Zara Kay by Tanzanian authorities marks yet another in a long line of persecutory actions by governments the world over against those who would express themselves freely and openly.
The list of trumped up violations with which Ms. Kay has been charged include failure to turn over her Tanzanian passport following her becoming an Australian citizen, using a SIM card not registered in her name (a family member’s), and a light satirical social media post last May from London, in which she expressed disapproval with the way the Tanzanian President was handling the government’s response to the global pandemic. However these charges are simply a pretext for her true “crime” of being outspoken against religion and Islam in particular.
As the founder of Faithless Hijabi, an organization that supports women who have been abused for leaving Islam, Ms. Kay is often the target of persecution, and this incident is no different.
“The Secular Coalition for America stands with all freethinkers around the world for the right to openly and freely express oneself without fear of reprisal in the form of false charges by authoritarian regimes. We see this all too often, and many times with tragic endings. It is long overdue for the world to recognize the right to freely express oneself, so that these actions no longer happen.” – Debbie Allen, Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America.
In solidarity with the International Coalition of Ex-Muslims, the Secular Coalition for America is asking those who wish to help Ms. Kay, to contact Tanzanian embassies in their country and demand that the Tanzanian government drop all charges, return her Australian passport and allow her to leave the country.
