Foreign ministry: US report ignored three elements about religious freedoms in Algeria

The Algerian foreign ministry Tuesday said a US report about religious freedoms in Algeria includes positive points but it ignored three main aspects.

The ministry said the US report “unfortunately wanted to ignore three important points.” It is about an ordinance No 03-06 which determines other religion practicing conditions.

The second point is related to religious associations’ role in calling for practicing religion in a transparent way.

The third element is about people who want to develop religious actions.

The ministry said it is sorry because the report did not give a positive image about the reality of religious freedom in Algeria.

The report hailed laws about religious freedoms but it criticized the Algerian community for rejecting people who convert to other religions.

Earlier, Algerian religious affairs minister Mohamed Aissa said the report did not understand the Algerian people’s culture. “Algerians still link Christianity with colonization and Judaism with Zionism.”