Maryam Namazie

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born feminist and secularist campaigner who resides in Britain. Among the groups that she has been involved with are Freethought Blogs and One Law for All. She is also a member of the Central Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran.

Namazie is critical of all religion, although she focuses primarily on Islam, being a former Muslim herself. Another target of her ire is the government of Israel, which she accuses of committing genocide in Gaza.

Thankfully, she and Pat Condell do not get along very well.

Controversy as a university speaker
Namazie was initially refused a platform at Warwick University because her criticism of Islam was accused of being hate speech, but this decision was ultimately overturned after a public backlash.

On 30 November 2015, she spoke at Goldsmiths University in London. Her talk was disrupted by some members of the university's Islamic Society (ISOC) which argued that Namazie was "known as a notorious islamophobe" and "the university should be a safe space for all our students", but did not make a formal complaint to the Student Union. Namazie's description of the events is as follows:

Apparently, Namazie's showing of a Jesus and Mo cartoon was deemed particularly objectionable. Following the event, the university's Feminist and LGBTQ+ societies expressed their solidarity with the ISOC, accusing Namazie and the Goldsmiths AHS of Islamophobia and mistreating the protesters. The incident was quickly condemned by some secular groups, who decried the feminist and LGBTQ+ societies for siding with the Islamists.