Bahram Soroush (Persian: بهرام سروش) is a UK-based civil rights activist[1] and a member of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran Central Committee.[2]

Bahram Soroush on the Bread and Roses TV programme in 2014

Biography

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As a teenager, Soroush took part in demonstrations against the regime of the Shah during the Iranian Revolution (1978–79). He and his fellow secularist progressive protesters were surprised and disappointed that the Islamists managed to take hold of the revolution and turn the Westernised Imperial State of Iran into an Islamic republic.[3]: 0:58 

In June 2007, Soroush became one of the co-founders of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB).[4]

Views

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According to Soroush, it is "very difficult to try to separate Islam from Islamic terrorist organisations".[1] In a conference held in June 2006, Bahram said that the "Iranian government is antiworker and anti-human" [5] Soroush has said that the Islamic Republic is not a representative of the Iranian people and that it would be dangerous for the Republic to attain nuclear weapons. [6]

In Soroush's view, the term Islamophobia is being used to "stifle the criticism of Islam"[1] and that "considering the atrocities" committed by Islamic movements, terrorist attacks and honour killings in Muslim countries, it is "understandable that people should have a dislike of Islam and that this negative perception of Islam should have grown".[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Two thumbs down - Transcript of TV interview with Bahram Soroush aired on TV International English, a channel owned by Worker-Communist Party of Iran, June 2004
  2. ^ Worker-Communist Party of Iran Central Committee
  3. ^ Reza Moradi (14 November 2014). "Commentator Bahram Soroush ("Confronting the Islamic State")". Bread and Roses TV. Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Speakers". Secular Conference 2014 website. Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  5. ^ Iranian delegation should not have been admitted to the ILO conference Archived 2007-07-19 at the Wayback Machine - Bahram Soroush’s speech at the ILO Conference 12 June 2006 (Workers in Iran, News & views from the labour movement in Iran)
  6. ^ A Nuclear-Free Iran - Interview with Bahram Soroush and Fariborz Pooya, aired on International TV, October 24, 2004
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