A judge in the Algerian coastal city of Tizi-Ouzou has issued an arrest warrant for Ali Arhab, the Algerian-born director of the France-based Christian satellite ministry Channel North Africa.
What initially appeared to be a simple case of mistaken identity has developed into something decidedly more sinister. The concern is that the Algerian government might be wielding a false criminal charge against Mr Arhab as part of its anti-missionary, anti-fitna, Islamist-appeasement campaign, the effect being that Mr Arhab will be unable to return to Algeria without risking imprisonment.
Religious Liberty in Algeria
According to The Constitution of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (approved by Referendum on 28 November 1996) Algerian citizens are free to observe their own religion.
"Freedom of creed and opinion is inviolable" (Article 36).
"The right to create associations is guaranteed" (Article 43).
However, unlike Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 36 of the Algerian Constitution does not make any reference to an individual's right to change their religion. Furthermore, Article 2 states "Islam is the religion of the state", and Article 9 prohibits "practices that are contrary to the Islamic ethics and to the values of the November Revolution". Together these render religious liberty illusory. (NOTE: the "November Revolution" marked the beginning of Algeria's war of independence, the goal of which, according to the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), was the establishment of Algeria as an independent sovereign state "within the framework of the principles of Islam" (Front de Libération Nationale, 1 Nov 1954).
Moustafa Bouchachi, President of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, recently protested the criminalisation of eating during Ramadan on the grounds that "The Algerian constitution prescribes freedom of religion. . ." Yet clearly the reality is more complicated.
See: Algerian men put to justice for breaking the Ramadan fast
By David E. Miller / The Media Line, Jerusalem Post, 7 Sept 2010
As David Miller of the Jerusalem Post reports, police in the Algerian province of Bejaya, in the Kabylie region east of the capital Algiers, recently arrested ten young men as they sat in a closed restaurant, charging them with eating in public in violation of the sanctity of Ramadan. The police were allegedly responding to complaints from locals who, they claim, had reported the "public desecration".
The men faced court in the town of Akbou on Monday 6 September but the verdict will not be known until early November. If convicted, the offenders face up to 2 years in jail.
As Miller notes, the incident reflects the growing trend amongst Muslim governments to cater to devout public sentiment in the Muslim world. (See here for a report on Morocco's persecution of fast-breakers.)
Protesting the charges against the alleged fast-breakers, Moustafa Bouchachi, President of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights noted: "There is no law in Algeria prohibiting eating on Ramadan, only one banning 'mocking Ramadan'. We believe that this lawsuit is unfounded. The Algerian constitution prescribes freedom of religion, so we think this is an affront to people's basic right, which we condemn."
Mouloud Benkadoum, a lawyer representing the owner of the restaurant, claims his client is being unjustly discriminated against. "The large hotels serve alcohol and meals in broad daylight during Ramadan," he told reporters.
According to Sallah A-Din Belabes, executive editor of Al-Watan, the arrests are simply a means by which the Algerian government can display some Islamic zeal and score points with Islamic fundamentalists. He believes that the fact that the arrests took place in the region of Kabylie, which he describes as "less religious than other parts of Algeria" (i.e. less Islamic fundamentalist), is significant. Doubtless the men were arrested to make a point locally -- that Islam will be observed in the Kabylie region "willingly or unwillingly" (Qur'an Sura 13:15) -- while scoring points with Muslim fundamentalists everywhere.
UPDATE: (22 Sept 2010)
Two Christian construction workers appeared in the provincial court in Ain El Hammam (50 km south of Tizi Ouzou) on Tuesday 21 Sept, charged with in eating during the daylight hours of Ramadan.
Hocine Hocini and Fellak Salem, both in their 40s, had been working on a private construction site when they ate their "illegal" lunch on 13 August.
"I am optimistic... I have no regrets, I am a Christian" Hocine Hocini, told AFP. "We are innocent, we have not hurt anyone. We are Christians and we did not eat in a public place."
Meanwhile, lawyers defending the two men have demanded their acquittal. They argue that existing Algerian laws do not prohibit citizens from breaking the Ramadan fast.
The police however, argued in favor of legal provisions that protect religious precepts from being disobeyed.
See:
Algeria: A disturbing trial of Christians over Islamic Ramadan fast
Afrik-News, Wednesday 22 Sept 2010,
Christians and liberal Muslims repressed to appease Islamists
Appeasement of Islamists was doubtless the primary motive behind the draconian March 2006 religion law that imposes severe restrictions on non-Muslim worship and has seen several Algerian Christians dragged before the courts for praying together or possessing Christian literature.
Algeria's March 2006 religion law was adopted as a presidential order (without debate) less than six months after some 10,000 condemned Islamists were amnestied. Most probably the amnesty involved some quid pro quo wherein the government agreed to repress Christianity and advance Islamisation in exchange for "peace". If there was no quid pro quo, then the March 2006 religion law might simply have been the government's attempt at pre-emptive appeasement through the removal of a "provocation". Whatever is the case, it does appear that religious freedom may have been the price the government paid for peace with fundamentalist and militant Islamists.
See Algeria: severe new penalties for 'proselytising'
WEA Religious Liberty News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal, 24 March 2006
Algeria: Christians and the extremist threat.
WEA Religious Liberty News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal, June 2007
And Christians in Algeria – witnessing in difficult times
Aid to the Church in Need, 27 Aug 2010
When the 300-member "Tafat" ("Light" in Kabyle) Fellowship in Tizi-Ouzou (100km east of Algiers) came under attack in December 2009, the Algerian government blamed the victim. Maintaining that Islam is inherently tolerant and peaceful, the authorities insisted that the violence must be due to factors other than Islam: such as non-compliance with the law, political opponents out to discredit or destabilise the government, foreign conspiracies, or provocative Christian evangelism.
See: Nous ne sommes pas contre la construction des églises
El Watan 29 Dec 2009. Translation (google)
ARREST WARRANT ISSUED IN ALGERIA FOR ALI ARHAB
In March 2010, Ali Arhab received a phone call in France from his parents in Algeria, alerting him to the fact that a judge in his home city of Tizi-Ouzou had issued an arrest warrant for "ALI ARAB" on charges of "fraud" (swindling). The warrant would have been of no concern to Ali Arhab if it had not been for the fact that his parents were named on the warrant.
After some investigation, a lawyer hired by Mr Arhab's parents determined that the warrant was doubtless intended for a building contractor by the name of Ali Arab who, it appears, has several complaints of swindling registered against his name. With this established, the lawyer pressed to have the case cleared only to be shocked when the authorities chose instead to amend the nationwide arrest warrant to read "ALI ARHAB".
The lawyer is concerned that the judge and the public prosecutor might be acting on behalf of higher authorities who might be plotting against Mr Arhab on account of his Christian activities in serving Algerian churches. Mr Arhab has reason to believe that he has been under surveillance ever since the Religion Law was passed in March 2006.
Showing posts with label Algeria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Algeria. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Monday, July 16, 2007
ALGERIA: Christians and the extremist threat.
Date: Monday 16 July 2007
Subj: Algeria: Christians and the extremist threat.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
On 13 June the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera published a column by Magdi Allam on the persecution of Christians and the lack of religious tolerance in Muslim countries. In the very last paragraph Allam names Algeria, just once, saying ". . .from Algeria to Pakistan, Indonesia to Nigeria, Saudi Arabia to Somalia", Christians are victims of persecution and discrimination. (Link 1)
Allam's assertion that Algeria is a nation where Christians are persecuted drew the ire of the Algerian government, with Liberte Algerie publishing an official response from Algeria's Religious Affairs Ministry on 8 July. MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) reports: "An official response by Algeria's Religious Affairs Ministry to an article in the Italian daily Corriere, which listed Algeria among the Muslim countries in which Christians are oppressed, stated that 'Christians in Algeria enjoy greater rights and liberties than do Muslims in Christian countries'. The ministry also asserted that a new Algerian law mandating two to five years in prison for anyone found guilty of trying to convert a Muslim to another religion was in accordance with international conventions." (Link 2)
These assertions by Algeria's Religious Affairs Ministry, that "Christians in Algeria enjoy greater rights and liberties than do Muslims in Christian countries" and that Algeria's religion laws are "in accordance with international conventions" should elicit a response from religious liberty monitors.
LAW AMENDED; CHRISTIANS ARRESTED
In March 2006, a presidential order that established new conditions for the exercise of non-Muslim religious practice was passed in both the Algerian Ummah council (Senate) and in the Algerian National Assembly (Parliament). The law is essentially an anti-missionary, anti-proselytising law that prescribed prison terms and hefty fines for anyone who "incites, constrains or uses seductive means seeking to convert a Muslim to another religion (. . .), or
who produces, stores or distributes printed documents or audio-visual formats or any other format or means which seeks to shake the faith of a Muslim". (For background see link 3).
On 4 June 2007 the government announced amendments to the religion law. Pursuant to Executive Decree 07/158 of 27 May 2007 all non-Muslim religious activities now fall under the auspices of the newly established National Commission for Non-Muslim Faiths which is chaired by the Minister for Religious Affairs and Wakfs or its representative (a wakf/waqf is a Muslim
trust). The commission is composed of representatives from the Ministry for National Defence, the Interior and local communities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Directorate-General of National Security, the Command of the National Police, the national advisory commission of the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
From now on non-Muslim religious activity may not take place except in recognised and approved associations and structures unless there is prior written permission from the civil authorities. This does not affect Sunday worship in recognised and approved churches but it does acutely restrict spontaneous worship, home fellowships, open air meetings and public ministry.
(Link 4)
According to an article by B Mokhtaria in Le Quotidien D'Oran the new commission now has authority over non-Muslim business and worship. It also has the right to contribute a preliminary opinion regarding the registration of religious associations and the approval of sites for worship. (Link 5)
The spokesman for and advisor to the Ministry for Religious Affairs, Mr Tamine, told Oran that the new laws were promulgated simply to fill in an existing gap in the law as the authorities have become aware of the origins of "extremists" in recent years. He said that the new laws will enable the authorities to crack down on foreign missionaries who enter Algeria on tourist
visas to seduce Algerians and convert them to Christianity by fraud and allurement. According to Mr Tamine, these missionaries act under the cover of religion while in reality, he alleges, their agenda is not religious at all. He maintains that Algeria must resist the activities of these non-Muslim "extremists". He asserts that the new law is not repressive, but protective, and will even protect the Christian expatriate working community from the consequences of religious demonstrations and reactions against Christian "extremism".
CHRISTIANS CHARGED WITH POSSESSION
On 20 June, five Algerian Christians faced court on charges of possession of Christian literature. (Link 6)
One believer appeared before the court for a second time on 27 June and will reappear in court on 19 December. He had been approached by two men pretending to be interested in the gospel on account of a satellite programme they had seen on El Hayat. The men asked the Christian if he could give them a Bible. When he did, the enquirers revealed themselves as police, arrested the believer and confiscated the box of Bibles he had in his possession. Two other believers were reportedly tricked into giving a Bible to a police officer at a road block. They will face court in September. According to sources the Algerian media did not cover the June trials.
Many believe that the Algerian authorities are overwhelmed and confused by the growing phenomenon of Muslims converting to Christianity.
Whilst this is doubtless true, it is also reasonable to question if the government's increasingly repressive policies regarding Christianity are in some measure being driven by a desire to appease increasingly threatening Islamic forces.
THE REAL EXTREMIST THREAT
Algerians know that the real threat to Algerian security and stability, progress and prosperity is Islamic "extremism" and fundamentalist militancy.
In late 2006 the Algerian Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. On 24 January 2007, with the blessing of Osama bin Laden, the group changed its name to The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. On 11 April, around 30 people were killed and 22 wounded when this group detonated two bombs in Algiers, one at a police station and one which ripped the facade off the President's headquarters. (Link 7)
On Wednesday 11 July a 20-year-old jihadist from an al-Qaeda cell bombed an army barracks in Lakhdaria village, 120 km (75 miles) east of Algiers. This suicide truck bombing killed 10 soldiers and wounded 35. (Link 8)
A MEMRI article issued after the 11 April bombings in Algiers entitled "Reactions in the Algerian and Arab Press to the Al-Qaeda Attacks in Algiers" shows that Algerians are under no illusions about the real extremist threat.
MEMRI reports: "Hakim Outoudert, writing in the regional daily La Depeche de Kabylie, questioned the Interior Minister's assertion that the attacks were an isolated event, and called for an ideological battle against fundamentalism in order to dry up the 'terrorist matrix'.
". . . 'Where did these young people contract this evil, if not from within Algerian society, through a bigoted media literature, but above all within the mosques in subversive suburbs? . . . [Should we] do away with fundamentalism, the matrix of terrorism, by drying up [its] ideological ground, or maintain [its] destructive potential by ceding it the terrain of political initiative? One day we'll have to choose. The sooner the better.'" (Link 9)
Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
Links
1) Una manifestazione per i cristiani in Oriente perseguitati
Magdi Allam, 13 Giugno 2007
http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Esteri/2007/06_Giugno/13/magdi.shtml
2) Algerian Religious Affairs Ministry Denies Persecution of Christians In Country. MEMRI. Source: Liberte, Algerie, July 8, 2007
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/2084.htm
3) Algeria: severe new penalties for 'proselytising'
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
By Elizabeth Kendal. Friday 24 March 2006
http://www.worldevangelical.org/news/view.htm?id=408
ALSO, Algeria: Text of Presidential Order Concerning Religion.
http://ea.org.au/default.aspx?id=0b0bd037-22c5-442e-9f2d-6bd6120e1c5e
The Presidential Order was published in the Official Journal of the Algerian
Republic (Journal Officiel de la Republique Algerienne) Number 12, 1 March
2006. The direct link to that journal is:
http://www.joradp.dz/JO2000/2006/012/F_Pag.htm . The Presidential Order
concerning religion is on pages 23 & 24. (French)
4) Restriction de la liberte religieuse pour les Christiens. 18 Juin 2007
http://evangelique-kabyle.blog.mongenie.com/index/p/2007/06/388071
AND – with a clarification submitted from 'Liberte Algerie'
Les messes chrétiennes n'ont pas besoin d'autorisation des walis
Par Samar, Mercredi 27 Juin 2007, Liberte Algerie
http://www.blogdei.com/index.php/2007/07/06/2261-pratique-des-cultes-non-musulmans-en-algerie-les-reunions-chretiennes-n-auraient-pas-besoin-de-l-autorisation-des-walis
5) Une commission pour reguler la pratique des cultes non musulmans.
par B.Mokhtaria, 7 Juin 2007
http://www.lequotidien-oran.com/index.php?news=501222&archive_date=2007-06-07
6) Cinq Chretiens Algeriens devant la justice le 20 Juin.
22 Juin 2007
http://evangelique-kabyle.blog.mongenie.com/index.php?idblogp=391554
7) Al Qaeda claims responsibility for Algiers bombings
ABC, 12 April 2007
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/04/12/1894940.htm
8) Suicide Attack In Algeria Kills Ten, Wounds 35 Soldiers
12 July 2007. By Joseph S. Mayton - AHN Middle East Correspondent
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007888238
9) Reactions in the Algerian and Arab Press to the Al-Qaeda Attacks in Algiers
MEMRI, 17 April 2007, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1546
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD154607
Subj: Algeria: Christians and the extremist threat.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
On 13 June the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera published a column by Magdi Allam on the persecution of Christians and the lack of religious tolerance in Muslim countries. In the very last paragraph Allam names Algeria, just once, saying ". . .from Algeria to Pakistan, Indonesia to Nigeria, Saudi Arabia to Somalia", Christians are victims of persecution and discrimination. (Link 1)
Allam's assertion that Algeria is a nation where Christians are persecuted drew the ire of the Algerian government, with Liberte Algerie publishing an official response from Algeria's Religious Affairs Ministry on 8 July. MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) reports: "An official response by Algeria's Religious Affairs Ministry to an article in the Italian daily Corriere, which listed Algeria among the Muslim countries in which Christians are oppressed, stated that 'Christians in Algeria enjoy greater rights and liberties than do Muslims in Christian countries'. The ministry also asserted that a new Algerian law mandating two to five years in prison for anyone found guilty of trying to convert a Muslim to another religion was in accordance with international conventions." (Link 2)
These assertions by Algeria's Religious Affairs Ministry, that "Christians in Algeria enjoy greater rights and liberties than do Muslims in Christian countries" and that Algeria's religion laws are "in accordance with international conventions" should elicit a response from religious liberty monitors.
LAW AMENDED; CHRISTIANS ARRESTED
In March 2006, a presidential order that established new conditions for the exercise of non-Muslim religious practice was passed in both the Algerian Ummah council (Senate) and in the Algerian National Assembly (Parliament). The law is essentially an anti-missionary, anti-proselytising law that prescribed prison terms and hefty fines for anyone who "incites, constrains or uses seductive means seeking to convert a Muslim to another religion (. . .), or
who produces, stores or distributes printed documents or audio-visual formats or any other format or means which seeks to shake the faith of a Muslim". (For background see link 3).
On 4 June 2007 the government announced amendments to the religion law. Pursuant to Executive Decree 07/158 of 27 May 2007 all non-Muslim religious activities now fall under the auspices of the newly established National Commission for Non-Muslim Faiths which is chaired by the Minister for Religious Affairs and Wakfs or its representative (a wakf/waqf is a Muslim
trust). The commission is composed of representatives from the Ministry for National Defence, the Interior and local communities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Directorate-General of National Security, the Command of the National Police, the national advisory commission of the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
From now on non-Muslim religious activity may not take place except in recognised and approved associations and structures unless there is prior written permission from the civil authorities. This does not affect Sunday worship in recognised and approved churches but it does acutely restrict spontaneous worship, home fellowships, open air meetings and public ministry.
(Link 4)
According to an article by B Mokhtaria in Le Quotidien D'Oran the new commission now has authority over non-Muslim business and worship. It also has the right to contribute a preliminary opinion regarding the registration of religious associations and the approval of sites for worship. (Link 5)
The spokesman for and advisor to the Ministry for Religious Affairs, Mr Tamine, told Oran that the new laws were promulgated simply to fill in an existing gap in the law as the authorities have become aware of the origins of "extremists" in recent years. He said that the new laws will enable the authorities to crack down on foreign missionaries who enter Algeria on tourist
visas to seduce Algerians and convert them to Christianity by fraud and allurement. According to Mr Tamine, these missionaries act under the cover of religion while in reality, he alleges, their agenda is not religious at all. He maintains that Algeria must resist the activities of these non-Muslim "extremists". He asserts that the new law is not repressive, but protective, and will even protect the Christian expatriate working community from the consequences of religious demonstrations and reactions against Christian "extremism".
CHRISTIANS CHARGED WITH POSSESSION
On 20 June, five Algerian Christians faced court on charges of possession of Christian literature. (Link 6)
One believer appeared before the court for a second time on 27 June and will reappear in court on 19 December. He had been approached by two men pretending to be interested in the gospel on account of a satellite programme they had seen on El Hayat. The men asked the Christian if he could give them a Bible. When he did, the enquirers revealed themselves as police, arrested the believer and confiscated the box of Bibles he had in his possession. Two other believers were reportedly tricked into giving a Bible to a police officer at a road block. They will face court in September. According to sources the Algerian media did not cover the June trials.
Many believe that the Algerian authorities are overwhelmed and confused by the growing phenomenon of Muslims converting to Christianity.
Whilst this is doubtless true, it is also reasonable to question if the government's increasingly repressive policies regarding Christianity are in some measure being driven by a desire to appease increasingly threatening Islamic forces.
THE REAL EXTREMIST THREAT
Algerians know that the real threat to Algerian security and stability, progress and prosperity is Islamic "extremism" and fundamentalist militancy.
In late 2006 the Algerian Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. On 24 January 2007, with the blessing of Osama bin Laden, the group changed its name to The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. On 11 April, around 30 people were killed and 22 wounded when this group detonated two bombs in Algiers, one at a police station and one which ripped the facade off the President's headquarters. (Link 7)
On Wednesday 11 July a 20-year-old jihadist from an al-Qaeda cell bombed an army barracks in Lakhdaria village, 120 km (75 miles) east of Algiers. This suicide truck bombing killed 10 soldiers and wounded 35. (Link 8)
A MEMRI article issued after the 11 April bombings in Algiers entitled "Reactions in the Algerian and Arab Press to the Al-Qaeda Attacks in Algiers" shows that Algerians are under no illusions about the real extremist threat.
MEMRI reports: "Hakim Outoudert, writing in the regional daily La Depeche de Kabylie, questioned the Interior Minister's assertion that the attacks were an isolated event, and called for an ideological battle against fundamentalism in order to dry up the 'terrorist matrix'.
". . . 'Where did these young people contract this evil, if not from within Algerian society, through a bigoted media literature, but above all within the mosques in subversive suburbs? . . . [Should we] do away with fundamentalism, the matrix of terrorism, by drying up [its] ideological ground, or maintain [its] destructive potential by ceding it the terrain of political initiative? One day we'll have to choose. The sooner the better.'" (Link 9)
Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
Links
1) Una manifestazione per i cristiani in Oriente perseguitati
Magdi Allam, 13 Giugno 2007
http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Esteri/2007/06_Giugno/13/magdi.shtml
2) Algerian Religious Affairs Ministry Denies Persecution of Christians In Country. MEMRI. Source: Liberte, Algerie, July 8, 2007
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/2084.htm
3) Algeria: severe new penalties for 'proselytising'
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
By Elizabeth Kendal. Friday 24 March 2006
http://www.worldevangelical.org/news/view.htm?id=408
ALSO, Algeria: Text of Presidential Order Concerning Religion.
http://ea.org.au/default.aspx?id=0b0bd037-22c5-442e-9f2d-6bd6120e1c5e
The Presidential Order was published in the Official Journal of the Algerian
Republic (Journal Officiel de la Republique Algerienne) Number 12, 1 March
2006. The direct link to that journal is:
http://www.joradp.dz/JO2000/2006/012/F_Pag.htm . The Presidential Order
concerning religion is on pages 23 & 24. (French)
4) Restriction de la liberte religieuse pour les Christiens. 18 Juin 2007
http://evangelique-kabyle.blog.mongenie.com/index/p/2007/06/388071
AND – with a clarification submitted from 'Liberte Algerie'
Les messes chrétiennes n'ont pas besoin d'autorisation des walis
Par Samar, Mercredi 27 Juin 2007, Liberte Algerie
http://www.blogdei.com/index.php/2007/07/06/2261-pratique-des-cultes-non-musulmans-en-algerie-les-reunions-chretiennes-n-auraient-pas-besoin-de-l-autorisation-des-walis
5) Une commission pour reguler la pratique des cultes non musulmans.
par B.Mokhtaria, 7 Juin 2007
http://www.lequotidien-oran.com/index.php?news=501222&archive_date=2007-06-07
6) Cinq Chretiens Algeriens devant la justice le 20 Juin.
22 Juin 2007
http://evangelique-kabyle.blog.mongenie.com/index.php?idblogp=391554
7) Al Qaeda claims responsibility for Algiers bombings
ABC, 12 April 2007
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/04/12/1894940.htm
8) Suicide Attack In Algeria Kills Ten, Wounds 35 Soldiers
12 July 2007. By Joseph S. Mayton - AHN Middle East Correspondent
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007888238
9) Reactions in the Algerian and Arab Press to the Al-Qaeda Attacks in Algiers
MEMRI, 17 April 2007, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1546
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD154607
Friday, March 31, 2006
ALGERIA: TEXT OF PRESIDENTIAL ORDER CONCERNING RELIGION
Date: Friday 31 March 2006
Subj: Algeria: Text of Presidential Order concerning religion
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
The following is an unofficial translation of President Bouteflika's Presidential Order concerning the 'conditions and rules for the exercise of religious worship other than Muslim'.
The Presidential Order was published in the Official Journal of the Algerian Republic (Journal Officiel de la Republique Algerienne) Number 12, 1 March 2006. The Presidential Order (in French) concerning religion is on pages 23 & 24.
Elizabeth Kendal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE ALGERIAN REPUBLIC NUMBER 12
Aouel Safar 1427
1 March 2006
Ruling number 06-03 of 29 Moharram 1427, Corresponding to 28 February 2006
fixing the conditions and rules for the exercise of religious worship other
than Muslim.
----
The President of the Republic,
In view of the Constitution, notably its articles 2, 29, 36, 43, 122 and 124;
In view of the international pact relative to civil and political rights,to which Algeria has subscribed by the presidential decree number 89-67 of 16 May 1989;
In view of the ruling number 66-154 of 8 June 1966, modified and supplemented, containing code of civil procedure;
In view of ruling number 66-155 of 8 June 1966, modified and supplemented, containing code of criminal procedure;
In view of ruling number 66-156 of 8 June 1966, modified and supplemented, containing penal code;
In view of ruling number 77-03 of 19 February 1977 relative the collection of money in a public place.
In view of law number 89-28 of 31 December 1989, modified and supplemented, relative to meetings and public demonstrations;
In view of law number 90-08 of 7 April 1990, supplemented, relative to towns and cities;
In view of law number 90-09 of 7 April 1990, supplemented, relative to administrative districts;
In view of law number 90-31 of 4 December 1990 relative to associations;
The Council of competent ministers, made known the ruling of which the contents follow:
CHAPTER I
GENERAL DISPOSITIONS
Article 1. — The present ruling has as its objective to fix the conditions and rules of exercise of religious worship other than Muslim.
Art. 2. — The Algerian state, of which the religion is Islam, guarantees the free exercise of religious worship in the framework of respect of the dispositions of the Constitution, of the present ruling, of the laws and regulations in force, of the public order, of good moral standards and of the fundamental rights and liberties of third parties.
The State equally guarantees the toleration and respect of different religions.
Art. 3. — Associations of religious practice other than Muslim enjoy the protection de the State.
Art. 4. — It is forbidden to use religious affiliation as the basis for discrimination towards any person or group of persons.
CHAPTER II
CONDITIONS FOR THE EXERCISE OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP
Art. 5. — Modification of a structure for the exercise of religious worship is subject to the prior approval of the national commission of the exercise of religious worship provided under article 9 of the present ruling.
Any activity is forbidden in premises intended for the exercise of religious worship, which would be contrary to the nature and objectives for which (the premises) are intended.
Structures intended for the exercise of religious worship are subject to being registered by the State, who assures their protection.
Art. 6. — Collective exercise of religious worship is organized by associations of a religious character of which the creation, approval and the functioning is subject to the dispositions of the present ruling and of the legislation in force.
Art. 7. — Collective exercise of religious worship takes place exclusively in structures intended for this purpose, open to the public and identifiable from the exterior.
Art. 8. — Religious gatherings take place in structures; they are public and subject to prior declaration.
The conditions and terms of the application of the present article are set by statutory means.
Art. 9. — A national commission of religious worship is created by the minister charged with religious affairs and of wakfs. The commission is charged in particular with:
— watching over the respect of the free exercise of religious worship;
— taking in charge the affairs and concerns related to the exercise of religious worship;
— giving prior approval for the formation of associations of a religious character.
The composition of this commission and the terms of its functioning are set by statutory means.
CHAPTER III
CRIMINAL PROVISIONS
Art. 10. — The punishment is one (1) year to three (3) years of imprisonment and a fine from 250.000 DA 500.000 DA for anyone who by verbal or written or distributed discourse in structures where religious worship takes place or who utilizes any other audiovisual means, containing a provocation to resist the fulfillment of the laws or the decision of the public authority, or tending to incite a part of the citizens to rebellion, without prejudice of more serious
penalties, if the provocation is followed by effects. The penalty is imprisonment from three (3) years to five (5) years and the fine is from 500.000 DA to 1.000.000 DA if the guilty person is as leader of religious worship.
Art. 11. — Without prejudice of more serious penalties, the punishment is imprisonment from two (2) years to five (5) years and a fine from 500.000 DA to 1.000.000 DA for whomever:
1 – incites, constrains or utilizes means of seduction tending to convert a Muslim to another religion, or by using to this end establishments for teaching, for education, for health, of a social or cultural nature, or training institutions, or any other establishment, or any financial means,
2 – makes, stores, or distributes printed documents or audiovisual productions or by any other aid or means, which has as its goal to shake the faith of a Muslim.
Art. 12. — The punishment is imprisonment from one (1) year to three (3) years and a penalty of from 100.000 DA to 300.000 DA, for anyone who has recourse to money collected from the public or who accepts gifts, without authorization by legally approved authorities.
Art. 13. — The punishment is imprisonment from one (1) year to three (3) years and a fine from 100.000 DA to 300.000 DA, for anyone who:
1 – conducts a religious worship service contrary to the dispositions under articles 5 and 7 of the present ruling,
2 – organizes a religious gathering contrary to the dispositions of article 8 of the present ruling,
3 – preaches in structures intended for the exercise of religious worship, without being designated, approved, or authorized by the religious governing body of his faith, competent, duly authorized on national territory and by the competent Algerian authorities.
Art. 14. — The competent authorities may forbid residency on the national territory to a foreigner convicted following the commission of one of the infractions provided for by the present ruling, definitively or for a period, which cannot be less than ten (10) years.
The residency ban of and expulsion from the national territory of the convicted person begins with full effect after carrying out the penalty of imprisonment.
Art. 15. — A legal entity that commits one of the infractions provided for by the present ruling is punished by:
1 – a fine, which cannot be inferior to four (4) times the maximum of the fine provided for by the present ruling for a person who has committed the same infraction.
2 – one or several of the following penalties:
— the confiscation of the means and the materials utilized in the commission of the infraction,
— the ban from observing, in the place concerned, a religious worship service or any religious activity,
— the dissolution of the legal entity.
CHAPTER IV
TEMPORARY AND FINAL DISPOSITIONS
Art. 16. — Persons exercising a religious worship service other than Muslim, in a collective setting, are required to conform to the dispositions of the present ruling, within six (6) months, starting with its publication in the Official Journal.
Art. 17. — The present ruling will be published in the Official Journal of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria.
Done in Algiers, on 29 Moharram 1427, corresponding to 28 February 2006.
Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA.
Subj: Algeria: Text of Presidential Order concerning religion
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
The following is an unofficial translation of President Bouteflika's Presidential Order concerning the 'conditions and rules for the exercise of religious worship other than Muslim'.
The Presidential Order was published in the Official Journal of the Algerian Republic (Journal Officiel de la Republique Algerienne) Number 12, 1 March 2006. The Presidential Order (in French) concerning religion is on pages 23 & 24.
Elizabeth Kendal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE ALGERIAN REPUBLIC NUMBER 12
Aouel Safar 1427
1 March 2006
Ruling number 06-03 of 29 Moharram 1427, Corresponding to 28 February 2006
fixing the conditions and rules for the exercise of religious worship other
than Muslim.
----
The President of the Republic,
In view of the Constitution, notably its articles 2, 29, 36, 43, 122 and 124;
In view of the international pact relative to civil and political rights,to which Algeria has subscribed by the presidential decree number 89-67 of 16 May 1989;
In view of the ruling number 66-154 of 8 June 1966, modified and supplemented, containing code of civil procedure;
In view of ruling number 66-155 of 8 June 1966, modified and supplemented, containing code of criminal procedure;
In view of ruling number 66-156 of 8 June 1966, modified and supplemented, containing penal code;
In view of ruling number 77-03 of 19 February 1977 relative the collection of money in a public place.
In view of law number 89-28 of 31 December 1989, modified and supplemented, relative to meetings and public demonstrations;
In view of law number 90-08 of 7 April 1990, supplemented, relative to towns and cities;
In view of law number 90-09 of 7 April 1990, supplemented, relative to administrative districts;
In view of law number 90-31 of 4 December 1990 relative to associations;
The Council of competent ministers, made known the ruling of which the contents follow:
CHAPTER I
GENERAL DISPOSITIONS
Article 1. — The present ruling has as its objective to fix the conditions and rules of exercise of religious worship other than Muslim.
Art. 2. — The Algerian state, of which the religion is Islam, guarantees the free exercise of religious worship in the framework of respect of the dispositions of the Constitution, of the present ruling, of the laws and regulations in force, of the public order, of good moral standards and of the fundamental rights and liberties of third parties.
The State equally guarantees the toleration and respect of different religions.
Art. 3. — Associations of religious practice other than Muslim enjoy the protection de the State.
Art. 4. — It is forbidden to use religious affiliation as the basis for discrimination towards any person or group of persons.
CHAPTER II
CONDITIONS FOR THE EXERCISE OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP
Art. 5. — Modification of a structure for the exercise of religious worship is subject to the prior approval of the national commission of the exercise of religious worship provided under article 9 of the present ruling.
Any activity is forbidden in premises intended for the exercise of religious worship, which would be contrary to the nature and objectives for which (the premises) are intended.
Structures intended for the exercise of religious worship are subject to being registered by the State, who assures their protection.
Art. 6. — Collective exercise of religious worship is organized by associations of a religious character of which the creation, approval and the functioning is subject to the dispositions of the present ruling and of the legislation in force.
Art. 7. — Collective exercise of religious worship takes place exclusively in structures intended for this purpose, open to the public and identifiable from the exterior.
Art. 8. — Religious gatherings take place in structures; they are public and subject to prior declaration.
The conditions and terms of the application of the present article are set by statutory means.
Art. 9. — A national commission of religious worship is created by the minister charged with religious affairs and of wakfs. The commission is charged in particular with:
— watching over the respect of the free exercise of religious worship;
— taking in charge the affairs and concerns related to the exercise of religious worship;
— giving prior approval for the formation of associations of a religious character.
The composition of this commission and the terms of its functioning are set by statutory means.
CHAPTER III
CRIMINAL PROVISIONS
Art. 10. — The punishment is one (1) year to three (3) years of imprisonment and a fine from 250.000 DA 500.000 DA for anyone who by verbal or written or distributed discourse in structures where religious worship takes place or who utilizes any other audiovisual means, containing a provocation to resist the fulfillment of the laws or the decision of the public authority, or tending to incite a part of the citizens to rebellion, without prejudice of more serious
penalties, if the provocation is followed by effects. The penalty is imprisonment from three (3) years to five (5) years and the fine is from 500.000 DA to 1.000.000 DA if the guilty person is as leader of religious worship.
Art. 11. — Without prejudice of more serious penalties, the punishment is imprisonment from two (2) years to five (5) years and a fine from 500.000 DA to 1.000.000 DA for whomever:
1 – incites, constrains or utilizes means of seduction tending to convert a Muslim to another religion, or by using to this end establishments for teaching, for education, for health, of a social or cultural nature, or training institutions, or any other establishment, or any financial means,
2 – makes, stores, or distributes printed documents or audiovisual productions or by any other aid or means, which has as its goal to shake the faith of a Muslim.
Art. 12. — The punishment is imprisonment from one (1) year to three (3) years and a penalty of from 100.000 DA to 300.000 DA, for anyone who has recourse to money collected from the public or who accepts gifts, without authorization by legally approved authorities.
Art. 13. — The punishment is imprisonment from one (1) year to three (3) years and a fine from 100.000 DA to 300.000 DA, for anyone who:
1 – conducts a religious worship service contrary to the dispositions under articles 5 and 7 of the present ruling,
2 – organizes a religious gathering contrary to the dispositions of article 8 of the present ruling,
3 – preaches in structures intended for the exercise of religious worship, without being designated, approved, or authorized by the religious governing body of his faith, competent, duly authorized on national territory and by the competent Algerian authorities.
Art. 14. — The competent authorities may forbid residency on the national territory to a foreigner convicted following the commission of one of the infractions provided for by the present ruling, definitively or for a period, which cannot be less than ten (10) years.
The residency ban of and expulsion from the national territory of the convicted person begins with full effect after carrying out the penalty of imprisonment.
Art. 15. — A legal entity that commits one of the infractions provided for by the present ruling is punished by:
1 – a fine, which cannot be inferior to four (4) times the maximum of the fine provided for by the present ruling for a person who has committed the same infraction.
2 – one or several of the following penalties:
— the confiscation of the means and the materials utilized in the commission of the infraction,
— the ban from observing, in the place concerned, a religious worship service or any religious activity,
— the dissolution of the legal entity.
CHAPTER IV
TEMPORARY AND FINAL DISPOSITIONS
Art. 16. — Persons exercising a religious worship service other than Muslim, in a collective setting, are required to conform to the dispositions of the present ruling, within six (6) months, starting with its publication in the Official Journal.
Art. 17. — The present ruling will be published in the Official Journal of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria.
Done in Algiers, on 29 Moharram 1427, corresponding to 28 February 2006.
Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA.
Friday, March 24, 2006
ALGERIA: SEVERE NEW PENALTIES FOR 'PROSELYTISING'
Date: Friday 24 March 2006
Subj: Algeria: severe new penalties for 'proselytising'
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
A presidential order that establishes new conditions for the exercise of non-Muslim religious practice was passed in the Algerian Ummah council (Senate) on Monday 13 March, and in the Algerian National Assembly (Parliament) on 15 March. As a presidential order, the text would not have even been open to debate.
Click here for Text of Presidential Order concerning religion
An article entitled "New sanctions concerning the illegal exercise of religious worship – Evangelicals under high surveillance", was published on 14 March in the French language Algerian newspaper 'Actualite'. (Link 1)
In this article, writer Hamid Saidani laments, "The form chosen for the promulgation of this law closes the door to any debate on this subject which is extremely sensitive because it touches on a principle established by the fundamental law of the land, which is the freedom of worship and of conscience. The content of this legislative framework would certainly have been greatly benefited if the discussion had been allowed."
Saidani reports that the order, classified as No 06-03 and dated 28 February 2006, puts forward a number of arguments which call for the strengthening of the law regarding religious activities that could be considered as "missions of proselytising". According to Saidani the penal aspects of the text are, between a 2 and 5 year prison term and a fine of 50 to 100 million centimes (this amounts to approx. US$7,000 to US$14,000 (1 Algerian dinar = 100 centimes)) for anyone who "incites, constrains or uses seductive means seeking to convert a Muslim to another religion (...), or who produces, stores or distributes printed documents or audio-visual formats or any other format or means which seeks to shake the faith of a Muslim."
Saidani concludes: "It is certain that this legislation seeks to block proselytizing missions and missionaries led notably by American evangelical churches in certain regions of the country, however it remains vital that the texts be clear and explicit, and this so that the way will not be opened for the violation of individual and collective liberties established by the laws of the Republic which would be swallowed up by a revival of the demons of inquisition."
Arabic News reports that the new law "is an attempt to withstand the Christianizing campaign which had witnessed a notable activity recently especially in al-Qabayel area east of the country."(Link 2)
Arabic News also adds, "The law also bans practicing any religion 'except Islam' 'outside buildings allocated for that, and links specialized buildings aimed at practice of religion by a prior licensing.'
"One official at the ministry of religious affairs said that the aim of the law is basically to 'ban religious activity, and secret religious campaigns.'
"The Christian community constitutes the largest religious minority in the country. This community accounts for the time being to less than 11,000 after it was hundreds of thousands before Algeria's independence in 1962 including 110 priests and 170 monks distributed all over Algerian lands."
President Bouteflika's aggressive move against "missions of proselytising" is very surprising considering that as recently as December 2005 Algeria's Minister of Religious Affairs, Bouabdellah Ghamallah, told Al-Khabar newspaper that reports of increasing proselytisation of Algeria's Muslims were groundless. (Link 3)
AMNESTY COMES INTO EFFECT: ISLAMISTS RELEASED
In September 2005 Algerians voted overwhelmingly, through a referendum, to grant amnesty to Islamist fighters imprisoned during Algeria's civil conflict, in exchange for peace. The amnesty, part of President Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, was approved by the government in February 2006, and the first wave of the 2,629 prisoners began to be released on 4 March. According to Cherif Quazani, some 10,000 condemned Islamists will eventually be released. Quazani writes (12 March) that it is inevitable that such a release of 10,000 prisoners who are "Islamists by nature" is cause for some apprehension. Quazani comments that no one can be sure that any of these Islamists have repented. He believes they view their release as a victory, adding that they left prison shouting "Allahou Akbar". (Link 4)
Critics fear that President Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation seeks to whitewash years of suffering and that releasing Islamic extremists and allowing them home from exile could plant the seeds for future violence. As noted in a WEA RL Prayer bulletin of Sept 2005, genuine long-lasting peace will require a comprehensive restorative justice program as distinct from punitive or retributive justice. This would require the government follow up the amnesty with a truth commission that involves jihadists and security forces, and a comprehensive national reconciliation program. Without these any peace will only be temporary as the sores will simply fester.
But of course the issue is even bigger even than this. In December 1991 Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) surged towards power heading for an absolute majority through democratic elections only to be stopped in its tracks by the military. The second round of voting was canceled and when the FIS was declared illegal January 1992 its partisans fled en masse to the mountains. The most radical element then began its activities as the GIA (Groupes armes islamiques, Armed Islamic Groups) and the more moderate element acted under the name MAI (Mouvement arme islamique, Armed Islamic Movement). What followed was a decade of civil conflict and horrific Islamic terrorism costing more than 150,000 lives.
However, Algeria's imprisoned Islamists would no doubt have been watching democracy in action in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories and feeling quite encouraged. Regional politics has changed a lot since 1991.
It is one thing to surrender weapons and renounce violence, but quite another to surrender aims and renounce ideology. With democracy proving so effective at empowering and legitimising Islamists, even militant Islamists, maybe renouncing violence is not such a compromise. It may after all only prove to be a change of strategy, not a change of direction – Islamists simply need ride a different vehicle to power.
GRASSROOTS: ISLAMISTS MOVING TO CONTROL MOSQUES
Hassan Moali wrote an article (20 February) entitled, "Islamist parties want to take hold of the mosques – The aggressions against Imams multiply", in which he alleges that Islamists are intimidating the imams not associated with their cause, infiltrating the religious associations of the mosques, and issuing threats by anonymous letters and even physical aggressions. (Link 5)
Hassan Moali claims that 20 percent of Algeria's 15,000 mosques are subject to threats and aggression from what he calls "the apostles of 'la religion partisane'". According to Moali, Islamists murdered at least ten imams in 2005, and that some were killed in their mosques in front of their congregations. Moali also asserts that courageous imams who refuse to preach the Islamist message are made the objects of devastating smear campaigns.
Moali notes that on average fourteen million Algerians would attend Friday prayer. And knowing the important role of the imam, it is easy to imagine what an appetite Islamist parties would have to control such a powerful reserve of political militant potential.
Hassan Moali names The Movement of Society for Peace (MSP: formerly Hamas) as being in the forefront of this conspiracy, adding that MSP president Bouguerra Soltani recently affirmed that his party aims to seize power in 2012.
"POLITICAL REHABILITATION"
President Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation provides for the "banning of all exercise of political activity, whatever form it may take, by those responsible for the exploitation of our religion." This provision basically bans political activity by those who have committed terrorist acts. (Link 6)
Regardless of this, some very senior militant Islamists are seeking "political rehabilitation". Ali Benhadj, deputy leader of the FIS is one (Link 7), and Abdelhak Layada, one of the founding leaders of Algeria's Islamic Armed Group (GIA), is another. (Link 8)
The GIA has sought not only to create an Islamist state but to rid Algeria of Jews and Christians. According to the Terrorism Knowledge Database http://www.tkb.org/ ten percent of all GIA attacks have been directed at religious targets. On 23 October 1994 GIA shot dead two Spanish nuns leaving a chapel in Algiers. In December 1994 GIA militants killed four Catholic priests of the Order of White Fathers, in a machine-gun attack at their mission in Tizi-Ouzou. GIA then faxed news organisations claiming that the killings were part of their campaign of "annihilation and physical liquidation of Christian crusaders".
On 3 September 1995 GIA killed two more nuns in Algiers. Then on 10 November 1995 GIA shot two French nuns (one fatally) of the Little Sisters Sacred Heart as they left their home in the Kouba district of Algiers. In May 1996 GIA claimed responsibility for the kidnap, murder and beheading of seven French Trappist monks from a monastery in Medea. On 1 August 1996 a GIA bomb exploded in the home of the French bishop in Oran, killing him and his driver. The Bishop had just returned from a ceremony commemorating the deaths of the seven monks a year earlier.
Abdelhak Layada was released from his prison cell on Monday 13 March. He commented on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's Charter to Asharq Alawsat newspaper saying, "It is a significant positive step towards achieving peace but it is incomplete because it closes the door of political participation in front of us." Layada indicated he would consider returning to politics in the future. He expressed his belief that the GIA and the FIS are the key to resolving Algeria's conflict.
In the meantime, Layada has said he will co-operate with the government to achieve peace. He is offering to mediate between the government and the militants still at large. A questions opens up before us though, particularly in the light of the government's about face concerning "missions of proselytism", and the new measures against them. To what extent has the amnesty been a quid pro quo deal – is the government going to have to co-operate with Islamist? Or maybe there has not been any quid pro quo deal – perhaps President Bouteflika knowing the nature of the Islamists he is releasing is just removing a 'provocation'. Whatever the reason for these new measures, the Church in Algeria is about to face a whole new level of persecution.
Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
Links
1) Les nouvelles sanctions concernant l'exercice illegal du culte: Les evangelistes sous haute surveillance. By Hamid Saidani, Liberte 14 March 2006
The text is no longer available at: http://www.liberte-algerie.com/
but it can be found at:
http://www.africatime.com/algerie/nouvelle.asp?no_nouvelle=244719&no_categorie=2
for a very rough English translation just put the article title, "Les evangelistes sous haute surveillance" into a Google search. (Kabyle.com has the best translation) Do likewise with other French articles amongst these links.
2) Algeria bans Muslims from learning about Christianity
Algeria, Politics, 3/21/2006
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/060321/2006032108.html
3) Algeria Downplays Proselytization Reports
CAIRO, December 25, 2005 (IslamOnline.net)
http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-12/25/article06.shtml
4) Qui a peur des amnisties ? ALGÉRIE
12 mars 2006 - par CHERIF OUAZANI
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN12036quiapsitsin0
5) Algerie: les partis islamistes veulent s'emparer des mosquees
Les agressions contre les Imams se multiplient
lundi 20 fevrier 2006
http://www.afrik.com/article9488.html
6) Bouteflika unveils new reconciliation plan. 15 August 2005
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/algeria/?id=14284
7) Algerie: les islamistes liberes vont-ils etre politiquement rehabilites?
Ali Benhadj, ex numero deux du Fis, le voudrait bien
jeudi 16 mars 2006, par notre partenaire El Watan
http://www.afrik.com/article9608.html
8) Former Algerian militant leader will cooperate with government to achieve peace. By Boulame Ghamrassha 16 March 2006
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=4156
Subj: Algeria: severe new penalties for 'proselytising'
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
A presidential order that establishes new conditions for the exercise of non-Muslim religious practice was passed in the Algerian Ummah council (Senate) on Monday 13 March, and in the Algerian National Assembly (Parliament) on 15 March. As a presidential order, the text would not have even been open to debate.
Click here for Text of Presidential Order concerning religion
An article entitled "New sanctions concerning the illegal exercise of religious worship – Evangelicals under high surveillance", was published on 14 March in the French language Algerian newspaper 'Actualite'. (Link 1)
In this article, writer Hamid Saidani laments, "The form chosen for the promulgation of this law closes the door to any debate on this subject which is extremely sensitive because it touches on a principle established by the fundamental law of the land, which is the freedom of worship and of conscience. The content of this legislative framework would certainly have been greatly benefited if the discussion had been allowed."
Saidani reports that the order, classified as No 06-03 and dated 28 February 2006, puts forward a number of arguments which call for the strengthening of the law regarding religious activities that could be considered as "missions of proselytising". According to Saidani the penal aspects of the text are, between a 2 and 5 year prison term and a fine of 50 to 100 million centimes (this amounts to approx. US$7,000 to US$14,000 (1 Algerian dinar = 100 centimes)) for anyone who "incites, constrains or uses seductive means seeking to convert a Muslim to another religion (...), or who produces, stores or distributes printed documents or audio-visual formats or any other format or means which seeks to shake the faith of a Muslim."
Saidani concludes: "It is certain that this legislation seeks to block proselytizing missions and missionaries led notably by American evangelical churches in certain regions of the country, however it remains vital that the texts be clear and explicit, and this so that the way will not be opened for the violation of individual and collective liberties established by the laws of the Republic which would be swallowed up by a revival of the demons of inquisition."
Arabic News reports that the new law "is an attempt to withstand the Christianizing campaign which had witnessed a notable activity recently especially in al-Qabayel area east of the country."(Link 2)
Arabic News also adds, "The law also bans practicing any religion 'except Islam' 'outside buildings allocated for that, and links specialized buildings aimed at practice of religion by a prior licensing.'
"One official at the ministry of religious affairs said that the aim of the law is basically to 'ban religious activity, and secret religious campaigns.'
"The Christian community constitutes the largest religious minority in the country. This community accounts for the time being to less than 11,000 after it was hundreds of thousands before Algeria's independence in 1962 including 110 priests and 170 monks distributed all over Algerian lands."
President Bouteflika's aggressive move against "missions of proselytising" is very surprising considering that as recently as December 2005 Algeria's Minister of Religious Affairs, Bouabdellah Ghamallah, told Al-Khabar newspaper that reports of increasing proselytisation of Algeria's Muslims were groundless. (Link 3)
AMNESTY COMES INTO EFFECT: ISLAMISTS RELEASED
In September 2005 Algerians voted overwhelmingly, through a referendum, to grant amnesty to Islamist fighters imprisoned during Algeria's civil conflict, in exchange for peace. The amnesty, part of President Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, was approved by the government in February 2006, and the first wave of the 2,629 prisoners began to be released on 4 March. According to Cherif Quazani, some 10,000 condemned Islamists will eventually be released. Quazani writes (12 March) that it is inevitable that such a release of 10,000 prisoners who are "Islamists by nature" is cause for some apprehension. Quazani comments that no one can be sure that any of these Islamists have repented. He believes they view their release as a victory, adding that they left prison shouting "Allahou Akbar". (Link 4)
Critics fear that President Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation seeks to whitewash years of suffering and that releasing Islamic extremists and allowing them home from exile could plant the seeds for future violence. As noted in a WEA RL Prayer bulletin of Sept 2005, genuine long-lasting peace will require a comprehensive restorative justice program as distinct from punitive or retributive justice. This would require the government follow up the amnesty with a truth commission that involves jihadists and security forces, and a comprehensive national reconciliation program. Without these any peace will only be temporary as the sores will simply fester.
But of course the issue is even bigger even than this. In December 1991 Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) surged towards power heading for an absolute majority through democratic elections only to be stopped in its tracks by the military. The second round of voting was canceled and when the FIS was declared illegal January 1992 its partisans fled en masse to the mountains. The most radical element then began its activities as the GIA (Groupes armes islamiques, Armed Islamic Groups) and the more moderate element acted under the name MAI (Mouvement arme islamique, Armed Islamic Movement). What followed was a decade of civil conflict and horrific Islamic terrorism costing more than 150,000 lives.
However, Algeria's imprisoned Islamists would no doubt have been watching democracy in action in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories and feeling quite encouraged. Regional politics has changed a lot since 1991.
It is one thing to surrender weapons and renounce violence, but quite another to surrender aims and renounce ideology. With democracy proving so effective at empowering and legitimising Islamists, even militant Islamists, maybe renouncing violence is not such a compromise. It may after all only prove to be a change of strategy, not a change of direction – Islamists simply need ride a different vehicle to power.
GRASSROOTS: ISLAMISTS MOVING TO CONTROL MOSQUES
Hassan Moali wrote an article (20 February) entitled, "Islamist parties want to take hold of the mosques – The aggressions against Imams multiply", in which he alleges that Islamists are intimidating the imams not associated with their cause, infiltrating the religious associations of the mosques, and issuing threats by anonymous letters and even physical aggressions. (Link 5)
Hassan Moali claims that 20 percent of Algeria's 15,000 mosques are subject to threats and aggression from what he calls "the apostles of 'la religion partisane'". According to Moali, Islamists murdered at least ten imams in 2005, and that some were killed in their mosques in front of their congregations. Moali also asserts that courageous imams who refuse to preach the Islamist message are made the objects of devastating smear campaigns.
Moali notes that on average fourteen million Algerians would attend Friday prayer. And knowing the important role of the imam, it is easy to imagine what an appetite Islamist parties would have to control such a powerful reserve of political militant potential.
Hassan Moali names The Movement of Society for Peace (MSP: formerly Hamas) as being in the forefront of this conspiracy, adding that MSP president Bouguerra Soltani recently affirmed that his party aims to seize power in 2012.
"POLITICAL REHABILITATION"
President Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation provides for the "banning of all exercise of political activity, whatever form it may take, by those responsible for the exploitation of our religion." This provision basically bans political activity by those who have committed terrorist acts. (Link 6)
Regardless of this, some very senior militant Islamists are seeking "political rehabilitation". Ali Benhadj, deputy leader of the FIS is one (Link 7), and Abdelhak Layada, one of the founding leaders of Algeria's Islamic Armed Group (GIA), is another. (Link 8)
The GIA has sought not only to create an Islamist state but to rid Algeria of Jews and Christians. According to the Terrorism Knowledge Database http://www.tkb.org/ ten percent of all GIA attacks have been directed at religious targets. On 23 October 1994 GIA shot dead two Spanish nuns leaving a chapel in Algiers. In December 1994 GIA militants killed four Catholic priests of the Order of White Fathers, in a machine-gun attack at their mission in Tizi-Ouzou. GIA then faxed news organisations claiming that the killings were part of their campaign of "annihilation and physical liquidation of Christian crusaders".
On 3 September 1995 GIA killed two more nuns in Algiers. Then on 10 November 1995 GIA shot two French nuns (one fatally) of the Little Sisters Sacred Heart as they left their home in the Kouba district of Algiers. In May 1996 GIA claimed responsibility for the kidnap, murder and beheading of seven French Trappist monks from a monastery in Medea. On 1 August 1996 a GIA bomb exploded in the home of the French bishop in Oran, killing him and his driver. The Bishop had just returned from a ceremony commemorating the deaths of the seven monks a year earlier.
Abdelhak Layada was released from his prison cell on Monday 13 March. He commented on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's Charter to Asharq Alawsat newspaper saying, "It is a significant positive step towards achieving peace but it is incomplete because it closes the door of political participation in front of us." Layada indicated he would consider returning to politics in the future. He expressed his belief that the GIA and the FIS are the key to resolving Algeria's conflict.
In the meantime, Layada has said he will co-operate with the government to achieve peace. He is offering to mediate between the government and the militants still at large. A questions opens up before us though, particularly in the light of the government's about face concerning "missions of proselytism", and the new measures against them. To what extent has the amnesty been a quid pro quo deal – is the government going to have to co-operate with Islamist? Or maybe there has not been any quid pro quo deal – perhaps President Bouteflika knowing the nature of the Islamists he is releasing is just removing a 'provocation'. Whatever the reason for these new measures, the Church in Algeria is about to face a whole new level of persecution.
Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
Links
1) Les nouvelles sanctions concernant l'exercice illegal du culte: Les evangelistes sous haute surveillance. By Hamid Saidani, Liberte 14 March 2006
The text is no longer available at: http://www.liberte-algerie.com/
but it can be found at:
http://www.africatime.com/algerie/nouvelle.asp?no_nouvelle=244719&no_categorie=2
for a very rough English translation just put the article title, "Les evangelistes sous haute surveillance" into a Google search. (Kabyle.com has the best translation) Do likewise with other French articles amongst these links.
2) Algeria bans Muslims from learning about Christianity
Algeria, Politics, 3/21/2006
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/060321/2006032108.html
3) Algeria Downplays Proselytization Reports
CAIRO, December 25, 2005 (IslamOnline.net)
http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-12/25/article06.shtml
4) Qui a peur des amnisties ? ALGÉRIE
12 mars 2006 - par CHERIF OUAZANI
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN12036quiapsitsin0
5) Algerie: les partis islamistes veulent s'emparer des mosquees
Les agressions contre les Imams se multiplient
lundi 20 fevrier 2006
http://www.afrik.com/article9488.html
6) Bouteflika unveils new reconciliation plan. 15 August 2005
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/algeria/?id=14284
7) Algerie: les islamistes liberes vont-ils etre politiquement rehabilites?
Ali Benhadj, ex numero deux du Fis, le voudrait bien
jeudi 16 mars 2006, par notre partenaire El Watan
http://www.afrik.com/article9608.html
8) Former Algerian militant leader will cooperate with government to achieve peace. By Boulame Ghamrassha 16 March 2006
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=4156