Christians and “bad” Muslims persecuted in Algeria

Christians and “bad” Muslims persecuted in Algeria
On Tuesday, two Algerian Christians were sentenced for breaking the fast in Ramadan. Prosecutors demand 3 years in prison.

The court of colonial Algeria in Ain L’hma’mm (Kabylia, 150 km east of Algiers) is on Tuesday the site of a very special trial: That of those not fasting during Ramadan. Hocine Hocini and Fellak Salem, construction workers, were arrested by the police on August 12, the second day of Ramadan, during their lunch break, in a house under construction. Arrested in “flagrante delicto of consumption of food”, they were charged with “attacking and insulting the precepts of Islam.” When Hocine and Fellak reveal their Christian faith and invoke the Constitution that “guarantees freedom of conscience”, the prosecutor says, angrily, “I advise you to leave this country. This is an Islamic country! “… On Tuesday, 3 years’ imprisonment was demanded against them. Verdict on October 5.

This operation is not unique. In Ighzer Amokrane in small Kabylia, the colonial police stormed a closed business premises, and arrested a dozen young people, guilty of drinking water and coffee, the trial is scheduled for November 8 .

Also in Larbâa-Nath-Irathen in Kabylia, four Christians will be put on trial on September 26, for “practicing a non-Muslim worship without permission.”

The latest provocation against the Christian community dates back to a few days ago, when the Protestant church in Tizi-Ouzou was ordered by the wilaya (county governor) to tear down the work being done inside the walls to secure the building. The reason given was “failure of building permits”, in contrast to the architectural anarchy for which the neighborhood is known. Mustapha Krim, head of the Protestant church in Algeria, is bitter: “This discriminatory attitude is motivated by a single argument: our Christian faith. We solemnly appeal to the higher authorities of the state to put an end to these abuses and to uphold the principle of equality of citizens before the law.

Minaret dispute

This escalation of repression of “worship crimes” was predictable. At the beginning of Ramadan, the collective SOS Freedoms denounced the “diversion of institutions to the service of intolerant ideology and anti-freedoms”, and demanded the opening of cafes and restaurants to those not Ramadan fasting. SOS Freedoms was created during the anti-Christian campaign in spring 2008. The collective, made up of artists and intellectuals, claims “freedom of conscience, synonymous with the right of everyone to practice the religion of their choice, or not to practice.”

By waving the red rag about “evangelists and infidels”, especially in Kabylia, the government is trying to stop conversions to Christianity. But also to break down traditional Islam, considered “tolerant of apostates”, and integrate a stricter practice. The “green brigades”, openly financed by Saudi Arabia via religious associations, have been recruited in several localities, with the complicity of the administration. In Aghrib (40 km north of Tizi-Ouzou), these neo-missionaries have met with resistance from the population. Faithful to their traditional mosque, where they preach tolerance and respect for others, villagers have blocked the construction of a fundamentalist mosque by burning materials that unknown persons had moved to the village square at night.

This “religious war” is actually a political maneuver to strengthen the alliance between nationalists and Islamists. While the law on “national reconciliation”, adopted by referendum in September 2005, gives a period of six months to the “errant Muslims” to lay down their arms to escape punishment by the court, in practice this period has been extended under the excuse of the “good of the nation.” Far from neutralizing the enclaves of “residual terrorism,” this accommodation has had perverse effects. Thousands of disaffected young men still go to terrorism, time to build up a fortune for the extortion, before surrendering to enjoy the benefits offered by the state for the reintegration of the “repentant”.

In the reorganization underway, fatwas by Hassan Hattab are announced by the “national Islamic” press and public radio as a new strategy to fight terrorism! Together with “converted” elements of the GIA, the former Emir, founder of the GSPC (progenitor of AQIM) has launched a “call to the scholars of the Muslim world” to ask them to support “national reconciliation” to ensure “Islamic victory against the Crusaders, and the enemy within” (read Kabyles). This is like pointing his nose at the court, but this is not a joke, the courts first declared him a fugitive and sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment. While in Algerian reality, Hassan Hattab lives protected by the authorities after his surrender was formally announced in September 2007.

Translated from French newspaper Le Figaro