The Central Council of Ex-Muslims (German: Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime, ZdE) is a German association (Verein) advocating for the rights and interests of non-religious, secular persons of Muslim heritage who have left Islam. It was founded on 21 January 2007 and had about 200 members, with "hundreds" of membership applications yet to be processed. The organisation opened branches in Britain and Scandinavia and the Central Committee for Ex-Muslims was created in the Netherlands. The British chapter is affiliated with The Ex-Muslim Forum. Another Ex-Muslim grassroots group, Ex-Muslims of North America, launched independently in Canada and the United States and affiliated itself with the Central Council of Ex-Muslims. Foundation The Council was founded by about 30 ex-Muslims including Iranian women's rights activist Mina Ahadi (chairman), who was sentenced to death in 1981 in her home country; the Turkish-born publicist Arzu Toker (vice chairman); and Nur Gabbari, the son of an Iraqi clergyman. Even in lands where execution for apostasy is prohibited, former Muslims are not sure of their lives, as their Muslim relatives may try to kill them. Chairwoman Ahadi has been put under personal security by German police after receiving death threats. Ahadi says that she and other members have been "terrorized". The choice of the association's name is furthermore deliberate, as it is an allusion to the name of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, which represents approximately 20,000 of the over 3 million German Muslims, and whose name is an allusion to the Central Council of Jews in Germany. The Central Council of Ex-Muslims receives support from the Giordano Bruno Foundation in Germany and according to its own claim also by the International League of non-religious and atheists, Bund für Geistesfreiheit München, as well as Humanistischer Pressedienst. Goals On 28 February 2007, the Central Council of Ex-Muslims published details of the association's goals in a press conference at the Bundespressekonferenz in Berlin. Comparable goals are aspired by the initiative "Secular Islam" of Islam critic Ibn Warraq, who belongs to the signers of the MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism and has published a book called Leaving Islam. Apostates speak out. The Council has stated its goals: "Start the campaign We've Given It Up!, which may be an allusion to an earlier feminist campaign under the slogan We have aborted!. The goal of the campaign is to convey ideas of Enlightenment to Islam. The Council wants to highlight the