8 Christian associations in Algeria summoned to comply with legislation

Talking Monday on the sidelines of the kicking off the ninth edition of the National Koran Week, the religious affairs minister Abu Abdellah Ghoulam Allah, declared that he asked the interior ministry to hand in a list of the religious associations operating in the country.

Official sources revealed that 7 associations are working illegally, and were summoned by the Algerian authorities to settle their administrative status and make it in conformity with the Algerian legislation.

According to the religious affairs minister, various associations including Protestant, Catholic and Anglican ones do not comply with the 1990 legislation governing associations.

To recall, the interior ministry services a large -scale scrutiny of non Muslim religious associations. In this respect, Two Protestant churches in Tizi Ouzou (100 km from Algiers) were closed down and 02 Christians were arrested in possession of 10 bibles while they in their way back from a secret meeting held last week in the same area.

For his part, the head of the Algerian Muslim Scholars Association, Abdurrahman Chibane declared “We were the first to notice and denounce this phenomenon with all wisdom required, and we’ll carry on in our endeavor”. He went on saying” We guarantee free religious practices for everyone, but we do not accept the evangelization of our sons”