ICC Note: Local Muslim authorities have ordered a new church in Algeria to be shut down under threat of legal action. Created under the umbrella of the Protestant Church of Algeria, this place of Christian worship is located about 62 miles east of Algiers, the capital. The legal demand was based on a 2006 ordinance that barred any worship other than Islamic. However, this Islamic demand of church closure goes completely against Algeria’s newest Constitutional Amendment 36, passed on February 7, 2016, which allows Freedom of Religious Expression for all religions.
2/25/2016 Algeria (La Depeche De Kabylie) – (Original Text in French) The pastor of the church of Ait Djima, in the town of Ait Bouadou affiliated with the EPA (Protestant Church of Algeria), was addressed recently a notice, signed by the head daïra of Ouadhias, warning him to stop all worship activities in the local housing the cult of this community, under pain of being sued, are we learned yesterday, the President of the EPA. This formal notice is justified by the non-compliance of this place of worship to the provisions of the 2006 law governing the worship other than Muslim. “The opening of this place of worship is contrary to the legislation, including Ordinance No. 06/03 of 28 February 2006 laying down the conditions and rules of exercise of religious worship other than Muslim,” he wrote in one this document, without elaborating. The pastor of the church of Ait Djima is compelled, by this notice, to comply with the provisions of this Act, to the risk of legal proceedings.
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