Executive Decree Identifies Terms Of Printing Koran, Importing Religious Books

An executive decree set the conditions and ways of prior authorization for printing the Koran and its marketing in Algeria, as the Koran should be printed locally by the government.

According to the latest number of the Official Gazette, it is incumbent upon every person who wants to publish the Holy Quran, print it or marketing or importing, should not launch any action whatsoever before obtaining prior authorization, as the Koran or any part of it should be thereof subject to prior authorization from the Minister in charge of Religious Affairs and Endowments, and should not contain errors with taking into account the recitation of the Imam Warsh Annafi.

In the same context, an executive decree that was published in the Official Gazette, set the conditions and ways of prior authorization for the importation of religious books.

The decree stipulated that every person who wants to publish the Holy Quran, print it or market it or import it, should not initiate any action, no matter how it is, before obtaining prior authorization, as the Koran or any part thereof is subject in terms of publishing, or printing or marketing to the prior authorization of the minister in charge of religious affairs and endowments.

As for the modalities of prior authorization, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments creates a committee to review copies of Koran with the task of deciding on the prior authorization to publish the Holy Quran, printing, marketing or importing it.

The Committee is created upon a decision of the minister in charge of religious affairs and endowments.

This Decree came after the Algerian customs seized many books that offend Islam, and the most recently incident occurred in the International Book Fair, of last October, were Customs seized banned books that were written by the Jewish writer “Marek Halter”, who have works that revered the Jewish and offend Islam, like “Khadija … women of Islam”, and the book “Fatima Bint Mohamed. (Fatima Mohamed’s Daughter)”.

Previously, security services seized books and folders that are directly related to Ahmadiyya, and also leaflets and brochures that are distributed by the followers of this sect to young people in exchange for giving them especially attractive financial deals and dragging them to this belief that hits Islam.