MP accuses Algerian minister of blasphemy against Islam

The MSP party’s representative in Parliament Abdelghani Boudebouz called on Algerian culture minister Khalida Toumi to justify its remarks which he considered as blasphemous against Muslims and their beliefs.

“National and international media reported your blasphemous remarks against Muslims and their beliefs as they badly described prayer and pilgrimage,” said the deputy in an oral question to the minister.

He added that Toumi’s remarks are religiously and humanly rejected. “They spark hate and embody disrespect of religions. We ask you for explanations about this point.”

This comes as French writer Elizabeth Schemla published a book containing an interview she made with Toumi in 1995 untitled ‘Khalida Messaoudi, an Algerian woman standing.’

The minister was accused of disrespecting Islam in the interview. In response, she said in the Council of the Nation on Thursday she is targeted by “Moroccan parties” due to her positions towards the Western Sahara issue. Her remarks were re-published on a Moroccan news website.

Toumi said she belongs to a “noble family” and her father was an imam. She said in the interview she thought prayer was no more than legacy from nomads in the Gulf. Yet, she was later convinced that she should not be different from her society so that she would not be in troubles.