Persecution of Christians

Algeria has been on the US Department of State’s Special Watch list since 2021 for its violations of religious freedom.

Today, almost every church in Kabylia has been forcibly closed without legal recourse for reopening. Believers are subject to harassment, intimidation, and persecution for practising their faith, and pastors and congregants face arrests and prosecutions simply for gathering in private to pray.

Converts from Islam, in particular, face discrimination, threats and imprisonment under vague accusations of “undermining state security”. Kabylia has the highest conversion rate to Christianity in Algeria as the Kabyle people retain a culture which favours freedom of religion and belief - an old Kabyle saying “in the name of all beliefs”, set out in the Kabyle draft constitution, exemplifies this.

In February, a group of Kabyle pastors and congregants - the Christian Kabyle Coalition - sent a letter to President Donald Trump’s new director of the White House Faith Office, Paula White-Cain, appealing for help. While the names of the signatories, most of whom are in exile, were provided confidentially to the White House, they had to be redacted in the public version of the letter to protect them and their families from reprisals by the regime. Learn more here.

Algerian law regulates the manifestation of religion or belief through various legal mechanisms penalising unregistered religious activity and expression. While the Algerian constitution technically grants the right to freedom of religion or belief, the government limits the free expression and practice of belief through the enforcement of laws that favour a particular interpretation of Islam and restrict other religious activities. Algeria’s penal and information codes criminalise blasphemy and proselytisation. Punishments include imprisonment for up to five years and a fine up to $7,500 (one million dinars).

For example, Ordinance 06-03, enacted in 2006, requires non-Muslim congregations to obtain state permits to operate. In practice, these permits are rarely, if ever, granted to Christian organisations.

Arrests include:

• Silmane Bouhafs: On August 25, 2021, three men in a black vehicle abducted Bouhafs –  Chairman of the St. Augustine Coordination of Christians in Algeria which defends minority rights and freedom of religion in the country – in broad daylight from his home in Tunisia. He was returned to Algeria, violating the Geneva Convention (which prohibits the returning of a refugee to a country they might suffer persecution in). On September 1, 2021, Bouhafs appeared before a judge and was remanded in prison on various charges, including insulting the Prophet Muhammad and several terrorism-related offenses. Bouhafs served a three-year prison sentence. He was released from prison on 1 September 2024.

• Hamid Soudad: - In 2024, Soudad, a Kabyle Christian, was sentenced to five years in prison for sharing a facebook post deemed “insulting” to Islam.

• In February 2023, a court sentenced two employees of a Christian broadcast company to two months’ imprisonment for “the production, storing, or distribution of printed documents, audio-visual materials, or using any other support or means with the intention of agitating/ shaking the faith of a Muslim”. After serving suspended prison terms, they were released with a lifelong ban from practising Christian activities.

Members of Parliament Jim Shannon and Danny Kruger have both spoken up in Parliament against Algeria’s persecution of Kabyle Christians (see below).