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On July 2, 2024, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), the ACLJ’s international affiliate in Strasbourg, France, organized a conference at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva to plead the cause of Algerian Christians, who are persecuted for their faith by the Algerian government.
In Algeria, restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly and association deprive Christians of the freedom to express and exercise their faith.
Algeria has around 144,000 Christians out of a total population of 46 million. The majority of these Christians are of Algerian nationality and have converted to Christianity in recent decades.
While the Algerian Constitution guarantees freedom of expression in principle, Algerian law criminally condemns anything that may tend to “convert a Muslim to another religion” or to “shake the faith of a Muslim.” As for freedom of conscience, this was removed from the Constitution in 2020.
Finally, legislation on associations and the exercise of non-Muslim religions is applied arbitrarily. The Algerian authorities no longer grant religious association status to evangelical churches. They no longer recognize their places of worship and abusively close them down.
Christian Pastor Youssef Ourahmane, the Vice President of the Protestant Church of Algeria, was convicted in 2023 for conducting an “unauthorized worship” service in an unapproved building. His sentencing is evidence of an ongoing underhanded crackdown on Christianity in Algeria.
The ACLJ and ECLJ join with the Protestant Church of Algeria, as well as the Special Rapporteurs and the Human Rights Committee, in calling on Algeria to restore freedom of conscience, to repeal all provisions that undermine freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, to guarantee to all people the full exercise of their freedom of thought, conscience, and religion – and to free Pastor Youssef.
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Be Heard Project is a project of the American Center for Law and Justice. American Center for Law and Justice is a d/b/a for Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism, Inc., a tax-exempt, not-for-profit, religious corporation as defined under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, specifically dedicated to the ideal that religious freedom and freedom of speech are inalienable, God-given rights. The Center's purpose is to engage legal, legislative and cultural issues by implementing an effective strategy of advocacy, education and litigation to ensure that those rights are protected under the law. The organization has participated in numerous cases before the Supreme Court, Federal Court of Appeals, Federal District Courts, and various state courts regarding freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Your gift is very much appreciated and fully deductible as a charitable contribution. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained by writing to us at P.O. Box 90555, Washington, DC 20090-0555.