Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
4 November 2008
analysis
Editor's Note: The German-based Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has just published its report on Christians persecuted for their faith around the world. CISA would like to share these important findings with our readers, hoping that you will support the suffering Christians through prayer and other forms of solidarity. We shall publish the findings on all African nations and selected countries where religious intolerance is particularly strong.
ALGERIA
There are about 80,000 Christians in Muslim-majority Algeria, forming about 2.5 percent of the 33.5 million people.
In the first half of 2008, nearly 30 churches were forcibly closed and dozens of Christians were arrested on charges of 'proselytism'. Reporting on these developments, human rights organisations blamed the clampdown on Christianity on the new religion law brought into effect in late 2006 and enforced by two presidential decrees of May 2007.
Under the regulations, non-Muslims found guilty of evangelising among Muslims - either directly or indirectly through welfare work including schools and hospitals - are liable to a prison sentence of up to five years or a fine rising to US$14,000. The law requires all non-Islamic 'religious meetings' to be held in authorised premises and failure to comply could lead to three years in prison and a fine of up to US$4,200.
The distribution of religious literature and other publicity material is strictly controlled, as are donations. A government-appointed commission is now responsible for deciding on non-Muslim religious buildings deemed suitable for worship. Religious freedom campaigners say the law's vague language will be exploited by anti-Christian extremists. Charities and human rights organisations have warned that Christians are directly threatened by the document's condemnation of initiatives which could 'shake the faith of a Muslim'.
Despite its opening remarks defending religious freedom, key articles of the 2006 law are seen as clashing with Algeria's constitution. Article 36 of the 1996 constitution declares that religious freedom is inviolable. The new law is aimed at Evangelical preachers but Catholic churches are often targeted because the local media ignores denominational differences.
Often seen as outsiders, most Christians in Algeria are foreigners (Europeans, Lebanese, students from sub-Saharan Africa and some Americans). Amid a rise in fundamentalist Islam, in early 2008 the Algerian press was accused of stoking intolerance by highlighting stories of Muslims converting to Christianity.
May 2007: The local authorities of 48 wilayas (departments) invited all the Catholics present to leave Algeria, following a directive from central government. Those responsible for the Catholic Church appealed to the highest Algerian authorities to get the decision annulled. Soon after, the Centre social du Corso, a Church-run social centre in the capital, Algiers, was closed down.
June 2007: Five young Christians were brought to trial in the city of Tizi-Ouzou accused of proselytism. One of them was trapped by a plain-clothes policeman, who asked for Christian publications and then arrested him after being given a Bible.
November 2007: Without being offered any explanation, four Brazilian Catholic voluntary workers were ordered to leave the country within two weeks, even though their papers were in order. This provision was annulled later thanks to the Brazilian Ambassador.
February 2008: The Algerian authorities rejected half of the visas requested by the Catholic Church for replacing personnel.
February 2008: About 30 sub-Saharan students attending a weekend course of Biblical studies in Tizi-Ouzou were ordered to leave Algeria. The decision was revoked following an intervention by the Senegalese Ambassador.
March 2008: Police told Pastor Salah Chalah to close his 1,200-member Full Gospel Church, in Tizi-Ousou. Police also issued notice to a second pastor, Mustapha Krireche, to close down his church in Tizi-Ousou's Nouvelle Ville district. In the four months after October 2007, 19 congregations received written orders to shut down. Additionally, two independent congregations were told to close their doors, according to Mustapha Krim, President of Protestant Church of Algeria.
March 2008: A woman named Habiba Qawider was accused of "practising a non-Muslim religion without authorisation" after she was found carrying Christian literature on a public bus. Qawider was ordered off a bus while travelling outside her home town Tiaret. She was handcuffed after police found some 10 Bibles and books on Christianity in her handbag.
The public prosecutor asked for a three-year prison term for Habiba. In June 2008 the retiring Archbishop of Algiers asked the authorities to drop all charges, following the suspension of her trial. The results of his intervention are not yet known.
April 2008: A Christian was handed a two-year suspended sentence for "proselytism". The individual plans to appeal the two-year suspended sentence and a fine of 100,000 dinar (US$1,540).
May 2008: Rachid, Djallil, Sami, Abdelkader, Mohamed and Chabane - all of them Christians - were accused of distributing religious material to convert Muslims and practising non-Muslim worship without authorization. They were arrested despite not being found in possession of religious literature or other Christian items. The public prosecutor asked the court in the town of Tiaret to sentence each of the Christians to two years in prison and fine them 500,000 Algerian dinars (US$8,000). The prosecutor alleged that the six Christians were gathered to worship at the house of Rachid, who is one of the defendants.
May 2008: Reports came in showing that half of Algeria's 52 Protestant churches had been closed within the previous six months. The reports, originating from Open Doors USA, said that the churches had been shut down following either an official written order or a verbal warning. Some of the churches had congregations of more than 1,000. Persecution watchdogs warned that all the Protestant churches would be forced to close before the end of 2008. Open Doors staff linked the closures to the religion laws passed in 2006.
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