Algerian pastor defends right to religious freedom, appeals “illegal worshipping” conviction

ALGERIA (25 March 2024) Pastor Youssef Ourahamane, a Christian-convert and church leader in Algeria, is appealing his conviction of “illegal worshipping” for participating in and leading Emmanuel Church in Algeria.  

Pastor Youssef, who was born into a Muslim home but converted as a student to Christianity, received a sentence of 2 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 Algerian dinars on 2 July 2023 for his involvement and leadership at his church, although the Authorities could provide no evidence of a crime. He is soon to appeal the conviction for a second time in a court in Tizi Ouzo, Algeria.  

“No one should be criminally punished or imprisoned for practicing their faith,” said Kelsey Zorzi, Director of Advocacy for Global Religious Freedom for ADF International. “Pastor Youssef faces criminal charges for simply holding worship services for his congregation. The government’s prosecution of Pastor Youssef amounts to a blatant violation of his right to religious freedom and must be condemned. We are hopeful that, through this appeal, Pastor Youssef will be fully acquitted and allowed to resume his duties as a pastor. The international community must continue to advocate for the rights of all Algerians to freely live out their faith and worship in community without fear of persecution”.  

ADF International is coordinating with other NGOs to support Pastor Youssef and his right to worship freely with international advocacy and to raise his case with government officials from over 40 countries.  

Background 

Pastor Youssef Ourahamane, who has been leading Christian congregations in Algeria for over 30 years, is appealing his conviction for illegal worshipping in his church on 26th March 2024, the date of his 36th wedding anniversary.  

Pastor Youssef is one of the leading figures in the Eglise Protestante d’Algérie (EPA), the Evangelical Protestant group whose 43 churches have been forcibly closed by the Authorities since 2019, leaving only one with its doors open today. Over the past five years, security police in Algeria who received orders from the Ministry of Interior, systematically went around the churches and claimed that alleged “health and safety” concerns meant that they were justified in putting locks over the doors and declaring the worship inside to be illegal. In one case, they physically beat a Pastor in front of his young child because he was peacefully protesting against the closure of his church.  

Pastor Youssef has been defending himself in court for his peaceful Christian activities since 2008. He claims that he is just the latest person out of 50 Christians to have been convicted by the Courts over the past few years, under the vague offenses of “shaking the faith” of Muslims, illegal worship, or embezzling of tithing donations. The convictions are thought to be a reaction to the fact that the government been concerned about the large numbers of local Christian converts in the country. “In the 1970s”, he said, “the government gave out licenses to churches which were largely full of expats. Today, the government is concerned that our churches are almost entirely filled with large numbers of Algerian converts and they therefore want to suppress the spread of the gospel among us”.  

On 27 March 2024, a different Pastor and four Elders from the church are also appealing their three-year prison sentences and fines of 200,000 Algerian dinars. 

Religious persecution in Algeria 

Algeria is home to nearly 43 million people, with 99% of the population identifying as Sunni Muslim. Christians fall into the 1% of religious minorities. Islam is the official state religion, but Algeria’s constitution recognizes the right of all to worship and speak freely. The Algerian government limits religious freedom and expression through the enforcement of laws, including egregious blasphemy and anti-proselytism laws, which intentionally target and violate the religious freedom rights of Christians and other religious minorities.   

Algeria’s penal and information codes criminalize blasphemy, with punishments including imprisonment for up to five years and fines. The Criminal Code also censors publications by prohibiting content that is “contrary to Islamic morals”. In particular, the government has systematically cracked down on the Evangelical Protestant Church, of which Pastor Soudad is a member and leader, through church closures and raids.  

Violations of the rights of religious minorities are in violation of both international and domestic law. Algeria is a signatory to major human rights treaties, committing it to upholding the rights to freedom of religion and expression.   

Governments and the international community have highlighted the ongoing plight of religious minorities in Algeria. USCIRF advised in its 2023 Annual Report that the country be recommended for the State Department’s “Special Watch List” for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom. In 2021, several U.S. Senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling on him to address the increased persecution of religious minorities in Algeria.  

In addition to Pastor Youssef, ADF International also advocated for the release of Hamid Soudad, a Christian-convert and leader in the Evangelical Church of Algeria, who was finally released from prison following a five-year ordeal. In January 2021, Soudad was arrested, convicted, and sentenced in an expedited trial to five years in prison for allegedly insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad through a cartoon he shared on Facebook in 2018. He was finally released from prison in 2023 following advocacy from ADF International and other religious freedom leaders from across the globe.