Mariwan Halabjaee

Mariwan Halabjaee or Mariwan Halabjayi (Kurdish: مەریوان ھەڵەبجەیی,; born 9 June 1963) is an Iraqi Kurdish writer, public speaker, and human rights activist. He is the author of sixteen books and producer of over ninety documentaries, covering topics on theology, psychology, and human rights. He is the author of the book Sex, Sharia and Women in the History of Islam (alternate title: Sex, Legislation and Women in Islamic History). The book gained international fame when published in 2005, and has since been reprinted eleven times and translated into Arabic, Persian, and Pashto for millions of readers. It is about how Islam and Sharia are allegedly used to oppress Muslim women. "I wanted to prove how oppressed women are in Islam and that they have no rights," said Halabjaee. Halabjaee asserted the book was, "based on Islamic sources such as the Holy Quran, Muslim and Bukhari books and many more." Due to his controversial work, he is often referred to as "the Salman Rushdie of Iraqi Kurdistan".

First fatwa in Iraqi Kurdistan

Halabjaee was reportedly forced to flee from Iraqi Kurdistan to Norway because the Islamic League of Kurdistan issued a "conditional" fatwa to kill him if he did not repent and apologize for writing his book. Halabjaee reported, "the mullahs and scholars said if I go to them and apologize they will give me 80 lashes and then refer me to the fatwa committee to decide if I am to be beheaded. They might forgive me, they might not."

Halabjaee allegedly received telephone calls saying, "Now, in 10 years or 15 years, we will kill you." Another time, Halabjaee reported, "the Islamists said once from the radio, if they found out where I was, they would blow themselves up with me." "With that book I wanted to defend women but the first thing I did was hurt my wife," said Halabjaee.