years in prison in his absence. Life in asylum Creating the Council of Ex-Muslims of France On 6 July 2013, Waleed Al-Husseini and around 30 other former Muslims founded the Council of Ex-Muslims of France (CEMF). The Council presents itself as "composed of atheists, free thinkers, humanists and ex -Muslims who take a stand to promote reason, universal rights and secularism." He opposes "any discrimination and all abuse" that would justify "respect for religion" requires "freedom to criticize religions" and "the prohibition of customs, rules, ceremonies or religious activities that are incompatible with or violate the rights and freedoms of the people." It also boasts "the prohibition of any cultural or religious practice that hinders or opposes the autonomy of women, their will and equality." The CEMF condemns "any interference by any authority, family or parental or official authorities in the private lives of women and men in their emotional and sexual relationships, and sexuality". A Facebook page was devoted to the activity of CEMF. In this regard, Waleed Al-Husseini was interviewed by journalist Caroline Fourest at France Inter on the radio programme Ils changent le monde (They change the world). Advocating secularism In early 2015, while preparing the release of his autobiography in the midst of a series of Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris, Al-Husseini made several appearances on French talk shows and news programs, and wrote an opinion piece on the need to reform Islam which was published on the website of daily newspaper Le Monde. He was also the subject of a four-page piece in French news magazine Marianne. In January, he published his autobiography, Blasphémateur ! : les prisons d'Allah (which was translated in English in 2017 as The Blasphemer: The Price I Paid for Rejecting Islam) writing about how he came to reject Islam through his studies of Islamic literature and history, and recounting his blogging, his arrest (alleging that he was tortured in prison) and subsequent flight to France. In his media appearances and book he makes calls in favor of the French principles of secularism and states his belief that there must be more debate on what he considers to be the violent content of parts of the Islamic texts, especially in the wake of the massacres at Charlie Hebdo magazine and the Jewish Hyper Casher supermarket in Paris in early 2015. In 2016, Al-Husseini was in Denmark taking part in a debate