Escaping the Shadow: The Lesbian Couple Refugees from Sudan and Egypt #1
[ 3 minutes to read] March 2026 – The vibrant streets of Cairo are often celebrated for their history, but for…
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Final December Deadline: Ilham’s Life in a 1/5th Limbo #9
[ 2 minutes to read] March 2026 – We often talk about time in abstract terms, but for Ilham, time is…
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Afghan student in Türkiye faces deportation into the hands of the Taliban #8
[ 4 minutes to read] July 2025 – A young Afghan refugee studying in Türkiye faces a daunting deadline as his student…
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Tragedy haunts Afghan Atheist in his refugee struggles #7
[ 3 minutes to read] October 2024 – A young Afghan atheist’s world was turned upside down by the death of a dear friend
even as he himself struggles to support himself, his friend’s family, and his own.Ilham, 24, a refugee and business administration student in Türkiye, was rocked by the
death-by-suicide of a close friend recently.“He killed himself, barely older than me, and a very good young man with talents that farsurpassed me,” recalled Ilham.
Ilham, a pseudonym to protect his real identity, is an Afghan refugee who has rejectedIslam. He fled Afghanistan to escape his family and the brutal regime that would kill himfor his lack of belief. Ilham had aided the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which made himeven more of a target by the Taliban, who now totally control Afghanistan. Ilham recentlyspoke with Freethinkers International.
“I haven’t been able to deal with it,” Ilham said of his friend’s untimely death. “I cried likea child. And I have seen worse things in life.”
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Black Friday with a Purpose: Empower Persecuted Freethinkers
[ 2 minutes to read] As the Black Friday curtains rise, revealing a stage set for the annual shopping extravaganza, we…
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Ilham’s world shaken by natural disaster #6
[ 3 minutes to read] The earthquake makes life for undercover ex-muslims even more difficult
March 2023 – When the earthquakes hit Turkey recently Ilham was struggling with illness and “didn’t even realize what was going” when his shaking building woke him up.
“I was sick and had a fever,” Ilham told SUN.
Asleep in his bed, ill, and confused with a fever, a natural disaster prevented him from leaving his eight-storey building. Ilham, a pseudonym to protect his real identity, is a 23-year-old Afghan refugee who has rejected Islam. He fled Afghanistan to escape his family and the brutal regime that would kill him for his lack of belief. Ilham had provided assistance to the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which made him even more of a target by the Taliban.
He stayed in his ground-floor apartment for a while but decided he should go out to see what happened. It was then that authorities told people to stay outside. Temperatures were below freezing in Tokat Province where Ilham lives. He got out of the building before the second earthquake hit.
“We had to stay outside the whole day. We were told not to enter buildings,” he said. He had a jacket to keep warm but his legs were freezing.
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Ex-Muslim lives a secret life to stay alive – #5
[ 2 minutes to read] Ilham lives a lie every day of his life so he may stay alive and somehow achieve the freedom he so desperately desires. ”I have to pretend i am a Muslim”
October 2022 – “I have to pretend I am a Muslim to be able to have a place to stay,” Ilham told SUN in a recent interview. “I am living in one of the most conservative provinces in Turkey and the university I study (at) try to further pan-Turkism and pan-Islamism.”
Ilham, a pseudonym to protect his real identity, is an Afghan refugee in his early 20s who has rejected Islam. He fled Afghanistan to escape his family and the brutal regime that would kill him for his lack of belief.
He likens his daily life now to a form of psychological torture.
“I am suffering from extreme anxiety and trauma,” said Ilham. “Sometimes it really gets over me.”
While Turkey is “safer” than Afghanistan it is still an Islamic country that has little tolerance for those who don’t believe. “It’s better than Afghanistan but far from freedom,” he said.
So Ilham wraps himself up in the lie that he is a believer in order to survive his daily life in a small, conservative city.
“The landlord thinks I am a Muslim,” explained Ilham. “He has forbidden me from having a girlfriend in house or drinking.”
He constantly parries questions about why people haven’t seen him at the mosque or why he isn’t praying. Ilham gives excuses to them like he was sick (which he often is) or that they must have just missed him. -
Adopt a refugee for $3 per month
[ 3 minutes to read] Ever since I’ve been involved in helping freethinkers and those on the run for their convictions,…
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Ilham needs your support for health and school #4
[ 2 minutes to read] Update april 2022 – For 22-year-old Ilham he must always temper his dream of living in a free country with everyday life managing challenging health and economic realities in Turkey.
“A country where I wouldn’t have to think twice before saying what I want,” he mused in a recent conversation with SUN.
Ilham (not his real name but an alias to protect him) shares an apartment with friends in a small Turkish city where he goes to school. An atheist who fled his country of Afghanistan and violence against him from family and other true believers, Ilham struggles with making ends meet and a medical condition that adds to his woes. Add to that burden his broken heart over what has happened to his country since the West pulled out of Afghanistan last year.
“I have a rare medical condition,” Ilham explained. “It is when the immune system is overactive and mistakes healthy cells for infection and destroys them.”
No cure exists but there are treatments that relieve the symptoms.
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The daily horror show in Afghanistan
[ 2 minutes to read] While the horror story continues, the world has lost interest On the day the Taliban took…
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Your money is well spent in September 2021
[ 1 minute to read] The donations we receive are 100% passed through to clients all over the world, needing support….
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Ilham faces health challenges #3
[ 2 minutes to read] Update July 2021 – Health struggles and financial woes have sent this twenty-something atheist back to a small Turkish city after a move to Istanbul proved too costly. “Without school I can’t stay here and without proper health I won’t be able to study,” said Ilham, who suffers from insomnia, allergies, fatigue and issues with the intense Turkish summers (30 + Celsius with high humidity common all summer).
When the Secular Underground Network (SUN) touched base with Ilham in May he had just relocated to Istanbul in hopes of furthering his studies and finding physical safety from those who would harm him because of his atheism. But his health, living arrangements and costs in Istanbul made it difficult for him to continue there. The young Afghan can only stay in Turkey if he remains in school. He returned to the small university city where he first set foot after fleeing a dangerous situation in Afghanistan. Once again Ilham (not his real name to protect his safety) faces a conundrum. He needs to be healthy to study and he needs to study to stay.
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Even Turkey is not safe for ex-Muslims #2
[ < 1 minute to read] Update May 2021 – Ilham was forced to leave his job and move to Turkey where he enrolled in studies. But just recently he was overheard chatting about middle eastern politics when other students confronted Ilham and ganged up on him.
Ilham was slightly injured, but was able to escape back to his dorm room. The next day, he and his friends moved from the small university city to Istanbul with the help of IAA. Currently he is in a dorm with five others. It’s a place to rest his head but still he doesn’t feel safe.“It’s like being in hotel with prostitutes and drug dealers,” said Ilham. “But at least I don
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School, a Literal Lifesaver for Atheist on the run – Ilham from Afghanistan #1
[ 2 minutes to read] March 2021 – For many of us higher education is a choice to better ourselves. For Ilham it is a matter of life and death. Ilham, a young Afghan, is registered as a student at a university in a small city in Turkey. If he doesn’t continue his studies he loses his residency permit and will be deported to Afghanistan.
“That means death sentence,” explained Ilham in a recent conversation with IAA. “I would need to pay them and study or they will cancel my residence permit.”
Tuition for Ilham (an alias to protect his identity) is not just necessary for him to continue his studies but necessary to stay alive and away from people who wish to harm him because he is an atheist.
“I am an atheist activist type of person,” he said.As a young boy in Afghanistan Ilham came to question his beliefs. An abusive father started beating him from the age of 4. He didn’t understand why Allah would allow this type of abuse. Always a bright child, Ilham speaks Pashto (spoken in Afghanistan), Dari (sometimes called Afghan Persian) and English. His linguistic abilities got the attention of the U.S. government, which hired Ilham as a Linguist/Analyst for their operations in Afghanistan. This came crashing down late last year when Ilham admitted his atheist beliefs to his father. This resulted in a horrible physical interaction with is father that left Ilham badly injured. And then the Taliban found out about Ilham’s work for the U.S.
