Waleed Al-Husseini or Walid Husayin (; June 25, 1989) is a Palestinian atheist, secularist essayist, writer, blogger, ex-Muslim and founder of the Council of Ex-Muslims of France. Born and raised in Qalqilya in the West Bank, he has been living in France since 2012. Al-Husseini, who published material satirizing religion on the Internet, was arrested in October 2010 by the Palestinian Authority for allegedly blaspheming against Islam on Facebook and in blog posts. His arrest garnered international attention, and Al-Husseini claimed he was tortured during his time in prison. After being released, Al-Husseini, fearing for his personal safety, sought asylum in France, which was granted to him in 2012. Since then, he has spoken in favor of secularism and against the development of radical and political Islam in France and abroad, arguing that radical Islam poses a threat to the secular French Republic. The New York Times writes that "The case has drawn attention to thorny issues like freedom of expression in the Palestinian Authority, for which insulting religion is considered illegal, and the cultural collision between a conservative society and the Internet." Biography Waleed Al-Husseini, born June 25, 1989, is from the West Bank city of Qalqilyah. As a university student, he studied computer science but remained unemployed and instead helped out a few hours a day at his father's one-chair barber shop. Acquaintances described him as an "ordinary guy" who regularly prayed at the mosque on Fridays. The Qalqilyah resident also spent much of his time on the Internet. After his mother discovered articles on atheism on his computer, she canceled his Internet connection, hoping he would reject such views. Instead, he began frequenting a local Internet café where he spent up to seven hours a day in a corner booth. Blogging and Facebook activities Allegedly writing under the pseudonym "Waleed Al-Husseini" in Facebook and on his personal blog, Al-Husseini, according to The New York Times, "angered the Muslim cyberworld by promoting atheism, composing spoofs of Koranic verses, skewering the lifestyle of the Prophet Muhammad and chatting online using the sarcastic Web name God Almighty." In an essay entitled "Why I Left Islam" on his blog Noor al-Aqel ("Enlightenment of Reason"), Waleed Al-Husseini wrote that Muslims "believe anyone who leaves Islam is an agent or a spy for a Western State, namely the Jewish State ... They actually don't get that people are free to think and believe