Seyran Ateş: ‘I’m not a traitor – I’m fighting for progressive Islam’

A new film documents the life and faith of the Turkish-German human rights lawyer and advocate of liberal Muslim worship

For Seyran Ateş, restrictions on daily life as a result of the Covid pandemic have had little impact. The Turkish-German human rights lawyer and advocate for progressive Islam has been unable to move freely for 15 years because of death threats. “I’m surprised people feel so frustrated over just a few weeks or months,” she says with a smile.

Ateş has been under police protection since 2006 because of the risk to her life from extreme Islamists, Turkish-Kurdish nationalists and German rightwing extremists. Two fatwas have been issued against her and she is accused of being a terrorist by the Erdoğan government in Turkey.

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This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.