New Church in Algeria Burned to the Ground

By Michael Ireland, ASSIST News Service

ALGERIA (ANS) — The Tafat Protestant Church building in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria, was set on fire on January 9, around 11:00 pm, according to the website for satellite broadcaster Channel North Africa (www.cna-sat.org ).

On its site, CNA states that “Tafat” means “light” in the Berber language.

According to the church’s pastor, Mustapha Krireche, “around twenty bearded men broke into the church, destroyed the chairs and doors and then set the building on fire.” Read the rest of this entry »

Algerian Christian Charged with Evangelism…Again

Compass Direct News reports

ISTANBUL – 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.

Police stopped Essaghir and another Christian in the vicinity of Tissemsilt in June 2007 and discovered a box of Christian books in their car. The two men said they were transporting the literature from one church to another.

Read the full story at Compass Direct News.

Algerian Prosecutor Demands 2 Year Sentence for Converts from Islam

Compass Direct News reports that:

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.

The same court in Tiaret city yesterday delayed the verdict of a Christian woman facing three years in prison for “practicing non-Muslim religious rites without a license.”

Under intense scrutiny from Algerian and international observers, the Tiaret judge delayed Habiba Kouider’s ruling to ask for further investigation. The case gained notoriety last week when Algerian newspapers reported that court officials in the agricultural town mocked the Christian for her conversion and pressured her to return to Islam.

Read more at Compass Direct News.

Algeria – Churches Under Attack

SANTA ANA, CA – 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.

Religious Affairs Minister Bu’Abdallah Ghoulamullah has called on Christian groups in Algeria to re-register according to Algerian associations’ law. But Algerian Christians have claimed that the government has blocked them from carrying out the required re-registration of their churches. “The administration offices in Tizi-Ouzou did not want to or could not say which measures to take in order to obtain the ‘certificate of conformity,’” church leaders say.

Nevertheless, authorities require the certificate to show that a church is in line with the March 2006 law governing non-Muslim places of worship. But because these regulations are unclear, churches are closed and services are forbidden. Expressing the Christian faith in a church service, by worship and prayer, has become almost impossible. Earlier this year an Algerian Christian was detained five days for carrying a personal Bible and study books. He was fined $460 and handed a one-year suspended prison sentence. On April 29 a court charged the Muslim Background Believer with “printing, storing and distributing” illegal religious material.

Algeria’s official state religion is Islam, and religious minorities are seen as a threat to the government’s internal affairs. Anyone found trying to convert a Muslim to Christianity can receive a sentence of two to five years imprisonment and given a fine up to $15,430. Christianity has been compared to terrorism, and Muslim schools and mosques have been encouraged to continue the attack that threatens to wipe out the Christian community in Algeria.

Open Doors has launched a worldwide advocacy campaign asking supporters to contact their local Algerian Embassy. Supporters can send a message to Algerian Ambassador to the United States Amine Kherbi directly from the Open Doors Website, asking that the Algerian government stop church closures and reopen those that have already been closed. This is an important way for Christians in the United States to stand up for the religious rights of Christians in Algeria. To send a message, go to the Open Doors Algeria 2008 website.

Algerian Court Pressures Woman to Renounce Christianity

Compass Direct News reports that

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. Held for 24 hours and interrogated by police regarding her conversion, Kouider was eventually brought before a state prosecutor.

“You reinstate Islam and I will [drop the case]; if you persist in sin you will undergo the lightning of justice,” the prosecutor told her, according to French daily Le Figaro.

Algerian daily el Watan reported on Wednesday (May 21) that Kouider “refused to give up her new faith under the pressure,” prompting the prosecutor to bring charges against her. She is accused of “practicing non-Muslims

The full story can be read at Compass Direct News.