Apostasy is a crime in Islam which carries the death penalty; so does blasphemy. A former Muslim turned Christian, Slimane Bouhafs, was jailed in Algeria in 2016 for saying that “the light of Jesus would outshine that of Islam.” He’s still being tormented now that he has been released and has moved to Tunisia. There is no escape.
Apostasy and blasphemy are state-sanctioned offences in countries which are Sharia-adherent. Punishment could be carried out by the state, or by a Muslim individual or mob; still, Westerners present Islam as a “religion of peace” and “tolerance.” This means that ongoing efforts to stymie truth are largely successful, including the raising of awareness about the multitudes of people suffering under the strictures of Islamic law. It is deemed “Islamophobic” to raise such awareness. There is little compassion in the West for these victims, who also include Muslims who do not adhere to the Sharia or to mainstream Islam. They, too, are deemed to be apostates.
“Released from Prison, Algerian Christian Persecuted in Tunisia,” Morning Star News, April 4, 2021:
TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – After Slimane Bouhafs was released from prison in 2018, having served nearly two years for violating Algeria’s blasphemy laws, further persecution drove him to Tunisia.
Threats on his life continue there, and he is stuck in legal limbo – missing his daughter’s wedding on Friday (April 2).
“My daughter who gave so much to me, who has always supported me, she is getting married without me being able to be by her side,” Bouhafs said in tears on Thursday (April 1). “It is a very great pain that I am suffering.”
Initially sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 for messages he posted on Facebook favoring Christianity over Islam, Bouhafs benefited from advocacy efforts that drew international attention, and he received a partial presidential pardon in 2017 that resulted in his release on April 1, 2018. Like many Christians branded as blasphemers of Islam, his troubles did not end with his release.
“Hateful people still wanted my life,” Bouhafs, 54, told Morning Star News. “Once I found two tires on our car gutted with a knife. I was getting threatening phone calls. I registered the numbers and filed a complaint, but the prosecutor did not care; no follow-up.”
After his release, the government cut off disability benefits he had received due to a condition that caused him to stop working as a security guard in 1999, he said. Before that, he had worked as a policeman until 1994.
“For 19 years I usually received my due [benefits], but since my release, nothing,” he told Morning Star News. “The Algerian Islamist state stole part of my life and even my salary. I was left without a penny.”
Fearful for himself and his family, he decided to seek asylum in Tunisia, as obtaining a visa for Europe or North America was impossible, he said. Bouhafs arrived in Tunisia in October 2018 – where he has been threatened repeatedly by phone and on social media, he said.
“Once, three people on a motorbike accosted me in the middle of the street, in front of a multitude of people coming and going,” Bouhafs said. “They asked for my papers with threats. I gave them my papers and told them I was a refugee. After taking a look, they handed them to me. It was then that they insulted me and threatened me without anyone intervening.”
One of the men had an Algerian accent, he said.
“I went straight to the police station to file a complaint. Unfortunately, there at the police station I was more mistreated,” Bouhafs told Morning Star News. “After finding articles on Google and finding out that I am a Christian and had been in jail accused of undermining Islam, the agents stood up against me, and they also insulted and mistreated me. I could only leave the premises forgetting the complaint.”
He began filing for asylum with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in November 2018, but his case was held up by several administrative delays, he said.
“During that period, I was very ill to the point where I was admitted to the hospital for 11 days,” he said. “I was experiencing indescribable anguish and stress. I only thought of one solution, suicide. I was given treatment which allowed me to resume.”
Occasionally he was able to receive visits from family members, he said, but the coronavirus pandemic has closed the borders, and he is now isolated.
Following publication of his case in an Algerian newspaper in June 2020, administrative processes improved, and he was able to obtain a refugee card in October, he said. Bouhafs said he did not understand why the UNHCR has not found a host country and authorized his departure.
“Honestly, I do not understand why they do not let me go, why I do not have my ticket, when countries have agreed to receive me. I find that unfair and humiliating,” Bouhaf said. “I ask that the authorities concerned act quickly, without further delay, to allow me to reach a country of asylum, and that my family can join me.”…
He was arrested on July 31, 2016 in a café by plainclothes police, and it was only under interrogation at the gendarmerie brigade’s Bou Salem quarters 15 kilometers (nine miles) from his home that he began to understand the accusations against him, his daughter said.
Officers took him to the Beni-Ourtilène court of justice, where he was tried and sentenced by 6 p.m., essentially in secret and without an attorney, then taken to prison in Setif, advocates said. He was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of 100,000 dinars (US$750) for Facebook posts deemed blasphemous to Islam and Muhammad.
“My father told me that that day was the longest and most painful day of his life,” Thilleli told Morning Star News. “On top of all that, he was gone without his meds, which made him nervous and stressed.”
Bouhafs added, “When I was in prison, I suffered a lot. I even came close to death after being poisoned. I suffered doubly from my disease and stress.”…
Johnny B says
We know Islam is pure evil, that’s why evil people in Europe and America are so eager to let it in. Eventually Islam will take over here as well, when nothing changes. Several major cities in Western Europe Muslims already make out the majority of infants and new-borns. Imagine what it’s going to be like in 15-20 years.
None the less my prayers go out to Mr. Slimane, I hope he can come here and be safe – at least for a while longer…
gregbeetham says
You might be correct; all kinds of corruption flourish under Islam because corruption is regarded as a virtue, especially by those who practise it well, so those who are morally and financially corrupt in the West probably stand to gain by limiting the effectiveness of nasty things like oversight committees and such concepts as accountability and checks and balances in the justice system.
You can still have an imitation of those in Islam of course but as a rubber stamped window dressing captive to kickbacks and bribes.
Lessee, who is it that looks after the interests of Islam the most? You could use that as an indicator of integrity, or the lack thereof.
John says
I’ve read reports Muslims control the UNHCR and favor only Muslims as refugees trying to leave dysfunctional or war torn Muslim majority countries. Syrian Christians can’t get admitted to UNHCR camps in Jordan, the first step for possible asylum to the west. Muslims control who gets into the camps, and can tell by your name what your religion is.
Mary C says
And just think, Algeria and Tunisia are more “liberal” and “modern” than other Islamic nations. SMH
gravenimage says
Grimly true–these are not even the worst parts of Dar-al-Islam.
Yohannes says
Whereas joiners to Mohammedanism protected by their infidel country, converts from Mohammedanism are facing persecution just because saying something about Mo and his dumb cult, it’s very saddening…
Infidel says
I think that w/ the islamo-Left alliance, countries like Algeria and Tunisia, which once upon a time were secular, are now about as islamic as they would be if the FIS were to take over those countries
Mahendiran says
Christians must be punished to death.
gravenimage says
*This* is how pious Muslims think–*Ugh*.
gravenimage says
Christian convert jailed for ‘undermining Islam’ in Algeria, now facing persecution in Tunisia
………………..
Sickening–but this is orthodox Islam.
Andrew Blackadder says
muslims sure have a very shallow sense of self as they cannot handle anybody discussing their religion in any critical manner, and of course if the person wishes to leave islam or just disagrees with islamic teaching then the muslim shows their true self…
So if I tell a muslim fellow that I believe his religion is very violent and he then turns around and attacks me very violently for saying this, then my question becomes… Is he being a good muslim by doing so?.
James Lincoln says
He is being a very *devout* muslim, Andrew.
But *bad* for society…
Christopher Watson says
And we let them into our democratic societies, give them money, allow them to worship their Mickey Mouse god, allow them to carry out their disgusting beliefs and on top of all that, we allow them to kill us. Are we completely insane? Many of them are ‘soldiers’ of allah, they wear ordinary clothing and they commit acts of terror. That is the definition of a spy. It used to carry the death penalty. It would not be difficult to re-instate it. All Mosques should be closed and all moslems expelled. Before any ‘lefties’ say ‘how awful’ , let them go to Algeria and even mention the Bible. To those who think this is extreme I predict that in 2041 your mothers, wives and sisters will be wearing a head-scarf and a long skirt. And don’t you even dream of mentioning mo or allah.
gravenimage says
I *wish* “Allah” were a mickey mouse god–he is a much more evil figure than this.
OLD GUY says
Sounds more like a Communist Dictatorship than a religion. If you speak out against the regime “religion” or try to leave it you will go to prison or be KILLED. Sounds like a take off of the NAZI death camps, Oh wait Hitler and the Muslim world were in love with each other and had the same goal of KILLING all of the Jewish people. History dose repeat it self.