Church leaders didn’t get an
explanation for why the seventh worship
building to be closed in Algeria since
November was sealed last week, but they
suspect lack of registration was the
pretext.
It is virtually impossible to register a
church in Algeria under current
restrictions. Although three of the six
churches previously closed were allowed
to reopen last month, the shuttering on
Wednesday (July 11) of the church
building in the northeastern town of Riki
was taken as a sign that harassment of
Christian institutions that began in
November is not over.
The church of about 60 people, which
began meeting at its building in Riki, near
Akbou in Bejaia Province, on Aug. 11,
2017, had not been able to affiliate with
the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA)
because the Ministry of Interior recently
ordered the once-legally recognized
association to freeze all new applications
for membership, said Esaid Benamara,
pastor of the Riki church.
After the church finished worship on July
7, a Saturday, the congregation was
surprised when policemen in two vehicles
arrived and asked Pastor Benamara to
come to their office. They agreed to his
offer to come the next day, and the pastor
and his brother went to the office.
“Once there, they let us know that they
had been ordered to close the premises of
our church and the sealing of the
entrance doors,” Pastor Benamara told
Morning Star News. “We then asked that
they give us the order in question, or at
least a copy. ‘We’ll give it to you later,’
one of them told us.”
On July 10, the pastor received a phone
call from the police (gendarmerie) asking
him to go to their brigade post as soon as
possible, and again he went with his
brother. They waited there until 7 p.m.,
when the brigade chief showed up and
asked them to leave and return with the
building owner because the closure
notification was sent to him, the pastor
said.
They returned with the building owner the
next day.
“They presented a statement to Mahdi
Amara [the building owner], asking him to
sign it, because the closing order was
addressed to him in person,”Pastor
Benamara said. “Then they told us that
they would go later in the day to execute
the order received from the wali [Bejaia
provincial chief].”
Near noon on July 11, two vans from the
gendarmerie brigade parked at the door of
the church, he said.
“Three of the gendarmes entered the
church and executed their order. They put
the curtain and the front door under seal,
which strictly forbids us to open the doors
of the church once closed,” Pastor
Benamara told Morning Star News. “After
execution of the order of the wali of
Bejaia to close the premises, the
gendarmes left.”
The policemen told them they had sent a
notification of closure to the building
owner dated Feb. 24, “something we have
never received,” the pastor said.
“That’s where we are,” he said. “Thus our
church is closed, and our faithful can no
longer meet.”
A 2007 executive decree requires all non-
Muslim places of worship in Algeria to
register with the state, according to the
U.S. State Department. Pastor Benamara
said the government freeze on new EPA
members has kept it from registering.
Laws passed in 2012 required the EPA,
which the government had given legal
recognition to in 1974, to re-register, but
officials have yet to give a response since
the EPA applied for re-registration in
2013, leaving the umbrella association
itself in legal limbo.
Christian leaders note that the Algerian
constitution’s Article 42 guarantees
freedom of belief, opinion and worship.
“This is injustice,” Pastor Benamara said.
“The authorities who are supposed to
respect and enforce the laws of the
republic themselves do not respect them.
Is it not true that Algerian law and
international laws respect and demand
respect for all religions as much as Islam?
And also their practice? Why are they
flouting these laws of the republic?”
On May 26 authorities ordered the closure
of a church building in Ait-Mellikeche,
also in Bejaia Province, and another
church building in Maatkas, in Tizi-Ouzou
Province. A church in a village in Azagher,
like Riki near Akbou, was closed in March.
At the same time, all churches affiliated
with the EPA have been visited by
investigators and ordered to comply with
requirements for non-Muslim places of
worship or face closure.
Church buildings previously closed in
Oran city, Ain Turk and El Ayaida, all in
Oran Province about 250 miles west of
Algiers, were allowed to reopen last
month.
Christian Acquitted
Also last week, a court on July 8 dropped
charges against a Christian fined 20,000
Algerian dinars (US$172) plus customs
expenses for carrying Christian literature
and some crucifix-shaped keychains into
the country.
Idir Hamdad, a 29-year-old convert from
Islam, had been sentenced by a judge at a
court in Dar el Beida, on the outskirts of
Algiers, who ruled he was guilty of
importing unauthorized items without a
license.
Notice of a six-month prison sentence and
fine had been delivered to his home on
March 4 stating that he had been
convicted and sentenced en absentia on
Sept. 28, 2017, but the prison sentence
was withdrawn on May 3.
Algeria ranked 42 on Christian support
organization Open Doors’ 2018 World
Watch List of the countries where it is
most difficult to be a Christian.
explanation for why the seventh worship
building to be closed in Algeria since
November was sealed last week, but they
suspect lack of registration was the
pretext.
It is virtually impossible to register a
church in Algeria under current
restrictions. Although three of the six
churches previously closed were allowed
to reopen last month, the shuttering on
Wednesday (July 11) of the church
building in the northeastern town of Riki
was taken as a sign that harassment of
Christian institutions that began in
November is not over.
The church of about 60 people, which
began meeting at its building in Riki, near
Akbou in Bejaia Province, on Aug. 11,
2017, had not been able to affiliate with
the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA)
because the Ministry of Interior recently
ordered the once-legally recognized
association to freeze all new applications
for membership, said Esaid Benamara,
pastor of the Riki church.
After the church finished worship on July
7, a Saturday, the congregation was
surprised when policemen in two vehicles
arrived and asked Pastor Benamara to
come to their office. They agreed to his
offer to come the next day, and the pastor
and his brother went to the office.
“Once there, they let us know that they
had been ordered to close the premises of
our church and the sealing of the
entrance doors,” Pastor Benamara told
Morning Star News. “We then asked that
they give us the order in question, or at
least a copy. ‘We’ll give it to you later,’
one of them told us.”
On July 10, the pastor received a phone
call from the police (gendarmerie) asking
him to go to their brigade post as soon as
possible, and again he went with his
brother. They waited there until 7 p.m.,
when the brigade chief showed up and
asked them to leave and return with the
building owner because the closure
notification was sent to him, the pastor
said.
They returned with the building owner the
next day.
“They presented a statement to Mahdi
Amara [the building owner], asking him to
sign it, because the closing order was
addressed to him in person,”Pastor
Benamara said. “Then they told us that
they would go later in the day to execute
the order received from the wali [Bejaia
provincial chief].”
Near noon on July 11, two vans from the
gendarmerie brigade parked at the door of
the church, he said.
“Three of the gendarmes entered the
church and executed their order. They put
the curtain and the front door under seal,
which strictly forbids us to open the doors
of the church once closed,” Pastor
Benamara told Morning Star News. “After
execution of the order of the wali of
Bejaia to close the premises, the
gendarmes left.”
The policemen told them they had sent a
notification of closure to the building
owner dated Feb. 24, “something we have
never received,” the pastor said.
“That’s where we are,” he said. “Thus our
church is closed, and our faithful can no
longer meet.”
A 2007 executive decree requires all non-
Muslim places of worship in Algeria to
register with the state, according to the
U.S. State Department. Pastor Benamara
said the government freeze on new EPA
members has kept it from registering.
Laws passed in 2012 required the EPA,
which the government had given legal
recognition to in 1974, to re-register, but
officials have yet to give a response since
the EPA applied for re-registration in
2013, leaving the umbrella association
itself in legal limbo.
Christian leaders note that the Algerian
constitution’s Article 42 guarantees
freedom of belief, opinion and worship.
“This is injustice,” Pastor Benamara said.
“The authorities who are supposed to
respect and enforce the laws of the
republic themselves do not respect them.
Is it not true that Algerian law and
international laws respect and demand
respect for all religions as much as Islam?
And also their practice? Why are they
flouting these laws of the republic?”
On May 26 authorities ordered the closure
of a church building in Ait-Mellikeche,
also in Bejaia Province, and another
church building in Maatkas, in Tizi-Ouzou
Province. A church in a village in Azagher,
like Riki near Akbou, was closed in March.
At the same time, all churches affiliated
with the EPA have been visited by
investigators and ordered to comply with
requirements for non-Muslim places of
worship or face closure.
Church buildings previously closed in
Oran city, Ain Turk and El Ayaida, all in
Oran Province about 250 miles west of
Algiers, were allowed to reopen last
month.
Christian Acquitted
Also last week, a court on July 8 dropped
charges against a Christian fined 20,000
Algerian dinars (US$172) plus customs
expenses for carrying Christian literature
and some crucifix-shaped keychains into
the country.
Idir Hamdad, a 29-year-old convert from
Islam, had been sentenced by a judge at a
court in Dar el Beida, on the outskirts of
Algiers, who ruled he was guilty of
importing unauthorized items without a
license.
Notice of a six-month prison sentence and
fine had been delivered to his home on
March 4 stating that he had been
convicted and sentenced en absentia on
Sept. 28, 2017, but the prison sentence
was withdrawn on May 3.
Algeria ranked 42 on Christian support
organization Open Doors’ 2018 World
Watch List of the countries where it is
most difficult to be a Christian.
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