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Algeria
Christians get suspended jail terms |
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(July
4,2008) TISSEMSILT, Algeria - A court in
Algeria handed suspended jail terms and fines to two Christians on
Wednesday for trying to convert Muslims, a defence lawyer said, in
the latest in a series of trials stirring accusations of religious
repression.
Rachid Seghir and Djallal Dahmani each received suspended six month
jail terms and 100,000 dinar ($1,613) fines in the hearing at Tissemsilt
town 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Algiers for "distributing
documents in order to disrupt the Muslim faith", defence lawyer
Khelloudja Khalfoun said.
Contacted by telephone after the hearing, Seghir said in brief remarks
that he would appeal, adding: "We are disappointed by the verdict
but we are not ashamed of our religion."
Mustapha Krim, President of the Protestant Church of Algeria, said
by telephone: "The verdict is very unfair. I don't understand
why people are condemned for their intentions."
The two were convicted in absentia for the same offence in November
2007 but had asked for a new hearing in their presence, as is their
right under Algerian law.
Seghir was also convicted of the same offence in a separate trial
in June in Tiaret town and handed a six month suspended prison term
and a 200,000 dinar fine. Algeria's constitution allows freedom of
conscience but a 2006 law strictly regulates how religions can be
practised and forbids non-Muslims from seeking to convert Muslims.
Worried by recent state-ordered closures of some churches and prosecutions
for proselytism, Christian groups overseas and Algerian liberals have
said the government appears to have launched a campaign of persecution
against minority Christians.
The Christian community is believed to number about 10,000 out of
an overwhelmingly Muslim population of 33 million. Most of the country's
Christian colonial settler population of up to one million fled shortly
after independence from France in 1962.
The government denies persecuting Christians. The state-appointed
Higher Islamic Council, which regulates religious practice, says Protestant
evangelicals are secretly trying to divide Algerians to colonise the
country. |
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