A senior Protestant pastor faces jail time in Algeria, as the authorities in the Muslim-majority state continue a clampdown on Christian worship that has seen churches closed and church leaders prosecuted.
Youssef Ourahmane is vice-president of the Protestant Church of Algeria. ADF
Pastor Youssef Ourahmane has lost an appeal to overturn a one-year prison sentence for holding an “unauthorized” worship service. Since 2017 an official campaign has been underway in Algeria to close Protestant churches and harass church leaders. The prosecution of Ourahmane marks an escalation of this campaign. Ourahmane is vice-president of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), an association of more than 40 Protestant churches.
In its verdict announced on May 2, the Tizi Ouzou appeal court upheld the one-year jail term and fine of 100,000 dinars (approximately 735 US dollars) handed down last November, adding an additional six-month suspended term for good measure, Middle East Concern reported.
The charges relate to two articles of Ordinance 06-03, an ordinance from 2006 regulating non-Muslim worship, the advocacy body said: holding an unauthorized religious assembly, and conducting worship in a building not authorized for that purpose.
An investigation into the pastor’s activities began in March 2023 when Ourahmane led a three-day retreat for a small number of Christian families in a church complex. The police had sealed the church building in 2019 on the order of the provincial governor.
In an Oral Statement to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 20, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) called on Algeria to overturn the convictions of individual Christians, including that of Pastor Ourahmane.
According to WEA, of which EPA is a member, since December 2020 there have been at least 52 prosecutions of Christians for peacefully practicing the Christian faith in Algeria. Half of these occurred in the 15 months leading up to March 2024.
WEA also urged Algeria to bring its legal framework, in particular Ordinance 06-03, into line with Article 18 (freedom of thought, conscience or religion) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
While acknowledging other faiths, the 2006 ordinance underlines the primacy of Islam as the state religion. In Algeria, 99 percent of the population of 44 million are Sunni Muslim. Estimates of the numbers of Christians range from 20,000 to 200,000. Algeria’s Christians comprise Roman Catholics, Protestants and Copts.
According to the European Centre for Law & Justice (ECLJ), Ordinance 06-03 primarily aims to restrict conversions to Christianity, which have been increasing since the early 2000s.
Under the 2006 ordinance it is prohibited to “convert a Muslim to another religion” or even to “undermine the faith of a Muslim.” Anyone who “produces, stores, or distributes printed documents or audiovisual materials” related to Christianity is liable to imprisonment for two to five years.
This makes even the existence of a Christian bookstore impossible, as Rachid Seighir discovered to his cost. The pastor received a suspended sentence and a fine in 2021 for “shaking the faith” of Muslims by selling Christian literature.
One way in which Algeria exerts control over the church is the requirement that places of worship be officially recognized.
As a result, Algerian Christians are forced to either construct churches without formal authorization, which is often delayed, or use private buildings intended for other purposes. In both cases, they risk forcible closure.
Since 2018 at least 43 churches have closed due to the authorities’ “systematic campaign to close Protestant churches,” according to WEA.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in July 2023 raised concerns with Algeria over discrimination against religious minorities and the closure of non-Muslim places of worship “despite freedom of worship and religion being enshrined the new Constitution”.
