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Published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc.
Vol. 43 No. 03 April 2026

FFRF leads protest over Betty Lachgar’s imprisonment

On March 8, FFRF Governmental Affairs Director Mark Dann, far left, FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor, second from left, and Dan Barker (photographer) were joined by D.C.-area FFRF members to demand the release of Betty Lachgar from a Morocco prison. To dramatize Lachgar’s medical situation, protesters wore a sling on their arm.
Photo by Dan Barker

FFRF joined an international action on March 8 to demand the release of a prisoner of conscience being held in a Moroccan prison.

FFRF held a protest at the Moroccan Consulate in Washington, D.C., to spotlight the imprisonment of feminist and freethinker Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar. Other protests were held around the world, including in London.

Lachgar has been named FFRF’s 2026 Avijit Roy Courage Awardee. (For more on FFRF’s convention, turn to page 3.)

Lachgar, a Moroccan clinical psychologist, atheist, feminist and longtime human rights campaigner, was found guilty last fall of wearing a T-shirt that “insulted Islam” and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. She is being treated inhumanely, even being denied a mattress and a pillow. Making her release urgent is the fact that Lachgar is a bone cancer survivor who was scheduled at the time of her arrest last August to have surgery on a failing prosthesis in her left arm. She’s been warned that without that surgery, she risks amputation of her arm.

FFRF is part of the Free Betty Coalition, which includes 150 organizations around the world. Internationally renowned groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have taken up Lachgar’s cause.

Sign the petition: freebetty.org.