Protecting Blasphemers is an annual discussion highlighting the most recent blasphemy issues of the year. We aim to discover the areas where the global secular community needs to make progress in terms of building support mechanisms to protect blasphemers experiencing persecution all around the world. This year’s speaker is Mubarak Bala, former president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, who was imprisoned for 24 years for “insulting religion” via social media posts, a sentence that was reduced to five years on appeal in 2024, resulting in his release. After his release, he continued to advocate for freedom of belief and relocated to Germany. Your host Onur Romano is the director of the Atheist Refugee Assistance Program of Ateizm Dernegi Turkey, Case Manager of the Secular Rescue Program of Center for Inquiry USA, and the Human Rights Chair of Centre for Inquiry Canada.
Protecting Blasphemers VII Panel will be livestreamed on YouTube on International Human Rights Day, Wednesday, December 10th, 2025, 4 pm EST.