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Algeria: Prosecutor demands two years in prison, $8145 fines for ex-Muslims “practicing non-Muslim religious rites without a license”; woman apostate’s verdict delayed by international attention

May 30, 2008 12:01 am By Marisol Seibold

Updates on the separate cases of six men and one woman detained for activities that could “shake the faith of Muslims.” As one of the defendants asked: “How can six people shake the faith of 40 million unless the court is convinced that the faith of the 40 million is not based on strong foundations?”

“Algeria – Prosecutor demands 2-year sentence for converts,” from Compass Direct News, May 28:

ISTANBUL, May 28 (Compass Direct News) — A state prosecutor in western Algeria demanded two-year jail sentences and large fines for six Muslim converts to Christianity yesterday in one of two trials against Christians that have caught the north African nation’s attention in the past week.

The same court in Tiaret city yesterday delayed the verdict of a Christian woman facing three years in prison for “practicing non-Muslim religious rites without a license.”

Under intense scrutiny from Algerian and international observers, the Tiaret judge delayed Habiba Kouider’s ruling to ask for further investigation. The case gained notoriety last week when Algerian newspapers reported that court officials in the agricultural town mocked the Christian for her conversion and pressured her to return to Islam.

France’s State Secretary for human rights, Rama Yade, spoke out in support of Kouider on Sunday (May 25), calling the charges against her “sad and shocking,” Agence France-Presse reported.

Speaking to Algerian daily El Watan following yesterday”s hearing, Kouider’s defense lawyer said that international attention had caused the verdict to be delayed.

“The court wants to buy time and remove the pressure exerted on it,” said Khelloudja Khalfoun.

Plucking her off an inter-city bus outside of her home town of Tiaret on March 29, police found several Bibles and books on Christianity in Kouider’s hand bag that she said were for her personal use. Officials held the Christian woman for 24 hours and then brought her before a state prosecutor, who offered to drop charges if she reconverted to Islam. She refused.

At last week’s hearing, the state prosecutor claimed that Kouider had been carrying a dozen copies of the same Christian book, proof that she had been planning to distribute them.

Under Ordinance 06-03 passed in February 2006, distributing, printing or even storing materials with the purpose of “shaking the faith” of a Muslim is punishable with up to five years in prison.

But Khalfoun, Kouider’s defense lawyer, argued that accusations of proselytism had nothing to do with the initial charge of “practicing non-Muslim religious rites without a license,” a charge that she claimed had no legal base.

Speaking to El Watan, Boudjemaa Ghechir of the Arab League of Human Rights agreed with the defense lawyer’s assessment and called for Kouider’s case to be dropped.

“There is absolutely no legal text which requires such an authorization [to practice religion],” Ghechir said in the May 25 article.

A New Charge

Khalfoun, a Tizi Ouzou-based human rights lawyer, is also representing six Muslim converts to Christianity on trial in Tiaret for proselytism and holding an illegal religious gathering.

A large contingent of journalists, as well as Islamists, attended their initial court hearing yesterday, one eyewitness told Compass.

Detained on May 9 while leaving a prayer meeting at the home of one of the men in Tiaret, the six converts were held for 24 hours and initially charged with “distributing documents to shake the faith of Muslims.” At yesterday”s hearing, the state prosecutor raised a second charge of illegally practicing non-Muslim worship and demanded two-year jail sentences and 500,000 dinar (US$8,145) fines for each suspect.

Ordinance 06-03 requires that religious services be held in specific locations intended exclusively for worship.

“How can six people shake the faith of 40 million unless the court is convinced that the faith of the 40 million is not based on strong foundations?” said Djillali Saibi, one of the Christians on trial, referring to Algeria’s majority-Muslim population. Christians, mostly converts, make up less than 1 percent of the country”s people.

Testifying before the Tiaret court yesterday, all six men denied that they had been distributing any religious materials.

“I had nothing on me except a CD of [U.S. cartoon] Tom and Jerry that I had bought for my daughter and a book on faith, a personal book,” one of the men told the court according to El Watan today. “If one accuses us of distributing documents they must have proof.” …

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