Betty Lachgar’s jail term shows why ex-Muslim voices want blasphemy laws gone: column

Betty Lachgar has now spent more than a year in a Moroccan prison for a photograph. This column is opinion.

The National Secular Society reports that Lachgar, a Moroccan human rights activist, was arrested in August 2025. She was sentenced to 30 months under Article 267-5 of Morocco’s Penal Code. That article punishes insults against Islam.

The case of Betty Lachgar

The photo showed her in London wearing a T-shirt with a slogan many believers find offensive. She wore it to protest death sentences against two women in Iran. Scene Magazine reported the same details on 20 October.

The National Secular Society and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain organised an open letter to Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband. It has 15 signatories, including Index on Censorship, Humanists International and the All Faiths Network. It asks for her immediate and unconditional release. It also asks for specialist medical care, because an independent report warns of serious risks without it. And it asks the government to press Morocco to repeal its blasphemy laws.

An Avaaz petition for a royal pardon has nearly 390,000 signatures. NSS chief executive Stephen Evans and CEMB spokesperson Maryam Namazie called the imprisonment unjust and life-threatening. They also said it puts people in the UK at risk.

Why ex-Muslim voices care

Many ex-Muslims know this law from the inside. In countries with blasphemy or apostasy rules, leaving a faith can be a crime or a danger. A joke, a post or a photo can lead to prison. That is why ex-Muslim groups lead this campaign.

My view is plain. A slogan can offend. Offence is not injury. Believers have every right to object, to argue and to protest. They have no claim on a prison cell for someone who insults their beliefs.

The letter raises a British point too. The photo was taken in London. If Morocco can punish lawful speech made in Britain, UK residents could be at risk when they travel. That is a matter for Westminster.

We covered another case of religious insult laws in our column on a TikTok parody in Egypt.

Opinion column. Fact basis: National Secular Society (October 2026) and Scene Magazine (20 October 2026). The Free Thought Daily author’s conclusions are their own.