As the campaign of detaining and investigating Christians in west Algeria intensifies, Christians in the country are asking for prayer for 12 Christians, women and men, who were detained on 4 September, interrogated by the police and will probably face charges.
charges.
On 5 September, a couple from that group has been called to the police station to face intensified interrogations. They remained the whole day and were summoned the following day to complete the investigations. The following two days, several Christians and couples were interrogated following the same pattern.
A special police force raided a humanitarian institution on 4 September with a search warrant. They confiscated Christian literature, phones, ID cards and other identifying documents. These have not been returned since then. They were told that they will face charges and appear before a court. Based on similar cases, the charges most likely will include “holding non-Muslim worship without permission” , “holding worship in an unauthorised place” and/or “shaking/agitating the faith of Muslims.” If convicted, those charged could face imprisonment of 2–5 years and heavy fines.
Another search was conducted by the police, on the same institution, on 4 October. Also here items were confiscated and a Christian detained for interrogations until late at night, and then released.
A systematic campaign targeting Protestant Christians and churches in Algeria, which began at the end of 2017, continues to intensify. All but one of the 47 Protestant churches affiliated with the EPA (Église Protestante d’Algérie — the organisation representing most Protestant churches in Algeria) – have either been sealed by the authorities or forced to close. More than 50 Christians, especially church leaders, have faced legal prosecution on religion-related charges and have had to close their churches because of threats and intimidation.
Prayer Points
Algerian Christians urge us to pray:
- for the church members and their families, that they would know the comfort of the Father and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit;
- that the church leaders will face no further legal proceedings and will be acquitted if brought before the courts;
- for Algerian church leaders to persevere in the face of increasing challenges to churches and individual Christians;
- that the government campaign against Christians and other affected communities will cease, so that they can live in peace and freedom.
