The award-winning feminist writer Taslima Nasreen, who is under death-threat from Islamist extremists, is to be housed in an artist's studio paid for by the city of Paris, more than a decade after she was forced into exile from her native Bangladesh.
Nasreen's outspoken stance on what she calls the inherent misogyny of conservative Muslim society in Bangladesh has sparked protests, riots and warrants for her arrest as well as a cash reward for her decapitation by religious fundamentalists.
In 1994, the former doctor was accused of blasphemy over her novel Lajja (Shame), which described the life of a Hindu family persecuted in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. The book was banned for offending Muslim religious sentiments.
She was quoted by an Indian newspaper saying the Qur'an should be rewritten because it was "unfair to women" and was forced to flee Bangladesh, even though she denied the comments and said she had been referring to sharia law.
After travelling across Europe and the US, and living in exile in India, where her presence led to threats and violent protests, and more recently in Sweden, she applied for housing in Paris six weeks ago. She is expected to move in next month.
Her case had become a cause celebre in France and she was made an honorary citizen of Paris last July.
The mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, called her a freedom fighter, and said: "You have been chased out of your home because you raised your voice against the inhumanity of fanaticism. You are at home here, in this city where men are born and live free and equal."
Nasreen did not comment on the move, but she recently told the TV station France 24 that she felt safe in Paris, because she could walk in the street without bodyguards. She said her "idea" was not to criticise Islam per se but to defend women's rights and freedom. "My aim is to raise consciousness, to struggle for justice for women, so I have no alternative but to criticise Islam because Islam oppresses women. I know millions of women have been suffering because of religion, tradition, culture and customs and I feel a responsibility to do something."
She left Kolkata last year after violent protests and for several months lived in a secret safe house in Delhi, which she likened to "solitary confinement".
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Nasreen's outspoken stance on what she calls the inherent misogyny of conservative Muslim society in Bangladesh has sparked protests, riots and warrants for her arrest as well as a cash reward for her decapitation by religious fundamentalists.
In 1994, the former doctor was accused of blasphemy over her novel Lajja (Shame), which described the life of a Hindu family persecuted in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. The book was banned for offending Muslim religious sentiments.
She was quoted by an Indian newspaper saying the Qur'an should be rewritten because it was "unfair to women" and was forced to flee Bangladesh, even though she denied the comments and said she had been referring to sharia law.
After travelling across Europe and the US, and living in exile in India, where her presence led to threats and violent protests, and more recently in Sweden, she applied for housing in Paris six weeks ago. She is expected to move in next month.
Her case had become a cause celebre in France and she was made an honorary citizen of Paris last July.
The mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, called her a freedom fighter, and said: "You have been chased out of your home because you raised your voice against the inhumanity of fanaticism. You are at home here, in this city where men are born and live free and equal."
Nasreen did not comment on the move, but she recently told the TV station France 24 that she felt safe in Paris, because she could walk in the street without bodyguards. She said her "idea" was not to criticise Islam per se but to defend women's rights and freedom. "My aim is to raise consciousness, to struggle for justice for women, so I have no alternative but to criticise Islam because Islam oppresses women. I know millions of women have been suffering because of religion, tradition, culture and customs and I feel a responsibility to do something."
She left Kolkata last year after violent protests and for several months lived in a secret safe house in Delhi, which she likened to "solitary confinement".
Source
Lol?
