Human Rights Cases In Algeria

Cases of harrassment, torture, imprisonment, assault and religious persecution in Algeria:

July 18, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – Three Algerian Christians fighting a blasphemy sentence arrived at court in northwestern Algeria on Tuesday (July 15) to find that their hearing was postponed until October 21 because the presiding judge was on vacation. Rachid Muhammad Essaghir, Youssef Ourahmane and a third man were charged in February with “blaspheming the name of the Prophet [Muhammad] and Islam” and threatening the life of a man who claimed to have converted to Christianity but who “returned” to Islam when his Islamic fundamentalist ties were exposed. The accuser, Shamouma Al-Aid, has links with Islamic fundamentalists, according to the defendants. “He was in touch with fanatics while with us,” said Ourahmane. “He used us to get money and information.” Click here to read more.

July 3, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – A court in western Algeria convicted two Muslim converts to Christianity yesterday for illegally spreading their faith. The court in Tissemsilt, 110 miles southwest of Algiers, handed Rachid Muhammad Essaghir, 37, and Djallal Dhamani six-month suspended sentences and 100,000-dinar (US$1,660) fines. The men were found guilty of “distributing documents to shake the faith of Muslims.” The case has received both local and international publicity following a wave of trials this year against Algerian Christians for evangelism and illegally practicing their faith. Click here to read more.

June 20, 2008: (Assist News) In February 2006 Algerian President Bouteflika signed the controversial 'Presidential Order Concerning Religion' which severely restricts Christian worship and practice. The Order was then passed by the upper and lower houses of parliament without debate. However for two years it sat on the books without being implemented. Then in early 2008 the government finally caved in to pressure from intolerant Islamic groups and, as reported in RLP 466 (20 Feb 2008), a crackdown began... multitudes of Algerians are sick of Algeria's intolerant Islamists and its non-transparent government constantly covering up human rights abuses and cutting deals with militants. Algeria has a presidential election scheduled for April 2009, so this is a strategic time for debates about Islam, religious liberty and the future of Algeria. Click here to read full report.

June 19, 2008: (Compass Direct News) A court yesterday postponed until next Wednesday (June 25) a hearing in west Algeria for a church leader on trial for evangelism. Already convicted of evangelism and blasphemy in two separate cases this year, Rachid Muhammad Essaghir, 37, believes he is being targeted for his work with Christians in Tiaret. The convert to Christianity, who regularly posts his telephone number on evangelistic Christian satellite TV programs, said that he has received death threats from Algerian journalist Haitham Rabani in recent months. Click here to read more.

June 17, 2008: (Compass Direct News) Convicted of blasphemy and evangelism in two separate cases this year, an Algerian Christian goes on trial in west Algeria for a third time tomorrow, again for evangelism. Rachid Muhammad Essaghir (previously reported as Seghir), 37, will be tried in Tissemsilt, 110 miles southwest of Algiers, for “distributing documents to shake the faith of Muslims.” An evangelist and church elder for a small community of Muslim converts to Christianity in Tiaret, Essaghir believes that local police have targeted him for his religious work. Click here to read more.

June 3, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – An Algerian court gave four Christians suspended sentences and fines today for seeking to convert Muslims to Christianity, a Protestant church leader said. Click here to read more.

June 2, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – For two hours yesterday on a street in Tiaret in western Algeria, police body-searched and interrogated a former Muslim on trial for practicing Christianity, a Protestant leader said. Click here to read more.

May 28, 2008: (Open Doors, Barnabus Fund) - Christian churches in Algeria are under massive attack. Over the last six months, Algerian authorities have closed half of the Protestant churches in the country. If the trend continues, the Algerian Protestant church will be non-existent by the end of 2008. Algerian officials have closed 26 Algerian churches by either written order or verbal warning since November 2007. Ranging in size from several dozen to more than 1,000 members, 32 congregations in Algeria belong to the Protestant Church of Algeria, while another 20 small fellowships exist independently. Algeria, a country of 33 million in northern Africa, is home to at least 10,000 Protestants. Click here to read more.

May 28, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – A state prosecutor in western Algeria demanded two-year jail sentences and large fines for six Muslim converts to Christianity yesterday in one of two trials against Christians that have caught the north African nation’s attention in the past week. Click here to read more.

May 27, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – In the past six months Algeria has begun enforcing a restrictive 2006 law resulting in jailed Christians and closed churches; reasons for the crackdown are varied. Click here to read more.

May 23, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – An Algerian public prosecutor has demanded a three-year sentence for a convert to Christianity in western Algeria for practicing her faith “without license.” Habiba Kouider, 35, was plucked off an inter-city bus outside of her home town of Tiaret on March 29 when police found several Bibles and books on Christianity in her hand bag. Click here to read more.

May 20, 2008: (Barnabus Fund) - Algerian Christians have asked their brothers and sisters around the world to support them in prayer and to speak up for them by writing to their Algerian ambassador or to the Algerian government. Click here to read more.

May 15, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – Algerian authorities have charged six Christians with distributing illegal religious material after detaining them as they left a prayer meeting in a western city last week. The Protestants were charged with “distributing documents to shake the faith of Muslims,” according to a written court summons issued Saturday (May 10) prior to the men’s release in Tiaret city. Their first hearing is scheduled for May 27. Click here to read more.

May 9,2008: (Compass Direct News) – An Algerian Christian detained five days for carrying a Bible and personal Bible study books was handed a 300-euro (US$460) fine and a one-year suspended prison sentence last week, an Algerian church leader said. Click here to read more.

April 16, 2008: (Compass Direct News)– Following an increase in church closures and convictions of Christians in Algeria this year, a United Nations body this week questioned Algerian delegates on an “alarming deterioration” of religious freedom there. Click here to read more.

April 10, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – An Algerian Christian was handed a two-year suspended sentence for “proselytism” yesterday amid an ongoing government crackdown on 26 of Algeria’s 50 Protestant congregations, a church leader said. Click here to read more.

March 28, 2008: (Compass Direct News) -Police issued written orders for three Algerian churches to cease activity this week, bringing to 19 the number of congregations told to shut down since November, an Algerian Protestant leader said. Click here to read more.

March 1, 2008: (Middle East Concern) Middle East Concern issued an update on three Algerian Christians facing court hearings and awaiting official verdicts. One Christian has a court hearing March 5th. He has been told informally that he will be sentenced to one year in prison and fined. The written verdicts on the three that were expected on the February 12th have still not been received. They have been told informally that they will be sentenced to prison and fined. The third Christian has a hearing scheduled for April 2. Algerian Christians continue to face two other overt pressures; namely an intense media campaign and the enforced closure of seven fellowships.

March 1, 2008: Middle East Media is asking for prayers for Algerian Christians: "Please continue to pray for the Church and Christian ministries in Algeria. The persecution has extended from the fellowships to the Catholic church, which is being restricted in its ministry to African migrant workers in Algeria, with the cancellation of residency permits for priests. Not only are churches and Christian ministries being targeted, but now individual Christians are being singled out. Three believers who have been accused of insulting Islam are awaiting a verdict on their cases. With more cases due to come to court in the next two months. Algerian doctors also face prosecution if they use the medication provided by the Catholic charity in Algeria and visas of Catholic priests and charity workers are being denied."

February 15, 2008: (ASSIST News Service) –At the end of February, 2006, a new law was adopted in Algeria incriminating numerous acts linked to the exercise of non-Muslim religious worship (i.e. Christian) with punishment including up to 5 years imprisonment and heavy fines. An American living and working in France, who asked not to be named, says the Algerian government is now starting to use this law against the Algerian Evangelical Christians. Click here to read more.

February 8, 2008: (Middle East Concern) – There is a sustained and intense media campaign against the [Algerian] church. On most days in January major Algerian newspapers carried articles expressing concern about the growth of the church. The amount of detail in some articles suggests that informants have been attending some fellowships. Second, seven fellowships are known to have been closed by the authorities. Several church leaders were told to bring an official license issued by a government committee that was established by legal decree in 2007 but has not yet been formed or held its first meeting.The affected fellowships are in Ait Amar, Ait Djemaa, Bachloul, Boughni, Ouargla, Tiaret and Tizi Ouzou. Third, several believers have been formally charged. Click here to read more.

November 22, 2007: (Institute of Race Relations) "An Algerian exile, with refugee rights in Germany, has been arrested in Spain and now faces extradition to Algeria. In 2003 former Algerian colonel Mohammed Samraoui - at the time a political refugee in Germany - published the book Chronique des années de sang (Denoël, Paris). Samraoui, who had deserted from the Department for Information and Security, denounced, in the book, both the crimes committed by terrorists, who were claiming to act in the name of Islam, and the systematic human rights abuses inflicted by elements of the Algerian state apparatus on its long-suffering population during the 1990s. Click here to read more.

QUICK LINKS TO CASE STORIES

Hearing in Algerian blasphemy case postponed

Two Muslim converts convicted in Algeria

Trial postponed for church leader

Debates needed on religious liberty in Algeria

Algerian convert targeted by police

Algerian court fines Christians

Algerian police interrogate former Muslim

Calls for advocacy on behalf of Algerian Christians

Algerian authorities seek two-year sentence against converts

Reasons for Algerian crackdown on Christians

Christian found with Bibles facing prison in Algeria