Algerian Convert to Christianity Talks about Christ

I praise the Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit has opened the eyes of this man and that he has sworn allegiance to Christ because of it.

7/26/2012 Algeria (Asia News) – A few days ago, the website of Notre Dame de Kabylie posted a tape in which a former Muslim, Mohammed Christophe Bilek, talked about his conversion to Christianity. The original broadcast, which focused on the persecution of Christians, first appeared in 'Dieu Merci' (Thank God), a show that deals with religion on Direct 8, a French TV channel.

Mohammed Christophe Bilek was born in Algeria in 1950 and has lived in France since 1961. He is the author of two books: Un algérien pas très catholique (A not very Catholic Algerian), published by Cerf (1999) and Saint Augustin raconté à ma fille (Saint Augustine as told to my daughter), published by Éditions Qabel (2011). In the 1990s, he founded the Notre Dame de Kabylie (in French), a website devoted to evangelisation among Muslims and Muslim-Christian dialogue.
In the video, Bilek highlights the risk Muslim converts face when accused of apostasy, an offence that can be punished by death. Nevertheless, he insists on the importance of baptism, the encounter with Jesus Christ and affiliation with the Church.
His views go against those of priests and bishops in Muslim countries, who prefer to dissuade or even deny baptism to Muslims who want to convert out of fear for the consequences they and Christian communities might face.
Is baptising banned?
A few weeks ago, a bishop in an Arab country in the Middle East told me that police threatened to close one of his communities because members had advertised a Christian-Muslim meeting on dialogue. Police were concerned that this might be the first step towards so-called proselytising and apostasy. "If this is the reaction to a meeting on dialogue, imagine what it would be if we had a conversion," an embittered bishop said.
It is no wonder then that the prelate is against conversions and baptisms for only this seems to be the way to preserve the little freedom of worship that exists in the country in question.
In places like Morocco, and until recently Algeria, the situation is such that dioceses were instructed not to baptise Muslims who want to convert to Catholicism because "local laws ban it."
Fr Samir Khalil remembers that a few years ago, he met a Muslim whose request for baptism was rejected for 13 years. Baptism, he was told, would bring him a lot of trouble, force him to emigrate to avoid being executed for apostasy, and endanger the priest performing the baptism. And yet, for all this time, the would-be convert studied the Gospels and the catechism on his own and led a life of prayers.
In Egypt, the Christian clergy also tends to avoid baptising Muslims; only a few priests have done so in secret. Speaking to AsiaNews, a religious who has been in Egypt for decades, said that baptising at any cost "is against the Second Vatican Council because the Council said that non-Christians can also find salvation outside the Church." Implicitly, this means that baptism is unnecessary and that people find salvation according to their circumstances.
This is not the place to start a theological debate about the faith in Christ and the salvation of non-Christians. Suffices it to say, that both Dominus Iesus and the Doctrinal note on some aspects of evangelization reiterate the importance of a 'visible' and socially relevant affiliation to Christ and the Church.
What is more, baptism is a life-changing experience, one that alters the convert's perception of life. Changes occur in the here and now, not in some future 'eternal' life after death. For this reason, offering others the baptism is not a superficial deed but a gift of life and hope in the present. Being baptised or not being baptised are not equivalent

Support Mounting for Algerian Christian Sentenced to Five Year Prison Term

My prayer is that this guy will get released from prison. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for his boldness and I pray he's blessed for it.

Washington, D.C. (November 15, 2011) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that the case of Siagh Krimo, an Algerian Christian who was arrested for proselytizing and is scheduled to stand trial on Thursday, is gaining significant recognition among Christians and human right activists in Algeria who are calling for his immediate acquittal.

Siagh Krimo, who is 29 years old and married with an infant daughter, was arrested on April 14 and held for three days in Oran for giving a neighbor a CD about Christianity. On May 4, Krimo was sentenced to five years in prison for blasphemy based on the neighbor’s accusation that he had insulted the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Krimo was sentenced according to Article 144 bis 2 of Algeria’s Penal Code, which criminalizes acts that “insult the prophet and any of the messengers of God, or denigrate the creed and precepts of Islam.”

“In the argument which led to the conviction of my client, there is no evidence,” Krimo’s lawyer, Muhammad Ben Belkacem, told the Algerian daily Liberté. “Even the person who complained was never presented at the hearing… [All evidence], including DVDs seized at the home of Siagh Krimo, were never presented in court... As for insulting the Prophet, he (Krimo) totally denies it!”

The Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) is mobilizing a “massive presence” that will gather at the courthouse along with journalists and activists on November 17 for the scheduled reexamination of Krimo’s case, an EPA spokesman told ICC. Krimo’s trial is not only important to Christians in the country, but also to human right activists.

“There is outrage surrounding his (Krimo’s) case,” Liberté reported according to an English translation. “In the judgment, the term ‘ridda’ was used, which means ‘apostasy.’ A teacher at the Faculty of Law and human rights activist accused the judge of acting ‘by ideology and not guardian of the law.’ And our partner in turn recalled that ‘Algeria's ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights means it must comply with Article 18 on freedom of conscience, religion and thought.’”

Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “Siagh Krimo’s trial follows a series of convictions in recent years targeting Algerian Christians for evangelism or for failure to publically observe the practices of Islam, like fasting during Ramadan. While Algeria professes to uphold religious freedom, it also embraces a blasphemy law that, by its very nature, can be used to prosecute anyone not adhering to the practices of Islam. ICC calls for the immediate acquittal of Mr. Krimo whose prison term may be enforced as early as Thursday(Source).”

Six Christians Arrested in Eastern Algeria

I pray that they get released from prison

Washington, D.C. (November 1, 2011) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that six Algerian Christians were arrested in El Tarf on Saturday for worshipping in an unregistered location. Five remain in prison on charges of proselytizing and blasphemy after appearing in court on Sunday.

On October 29, the six Algerian Christians were arrested before their morning prayer service in an apartment not authorized as a legal place of worship, the independent daily El Watan reported. The arrests occurred in a village near Bougous, located in the north-eastern province of El Tarf which borders Tunisia.

The next day, the Criminal Court of El Tarf held five of the six Christians in custody for proselytizing, unauthorized worship, and insulting Islam, according to Algérie Plus. The sixth Christian, a minor, was released and placed on probation. Local congregants expect a trial to take place in the coming days.

According to Algerian press, the Christians are affiliated with the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), though their affiliation has not yet been confirmed by the EPA. In July, the Algerian government authorized the EPA to apply for official registration, but many congregations have not yet begun the process of registration and continue to worship in secret.

The arrests were in accordance with Ordinance 06-03, which was established in 2006 to regulate the worship of non-Muslims by requiring churches to obtain government permission to hold services. The ordinance also states that Christians must worship in recognized buildings, not houses or apartments.

The arrests occurred days before the trial of Siagh Krimo, an Algerian Christian who is scheduled to appear in an appeals court in Oran on November 3. Krimo was arrested and briefly imprisoned on April 14 after sharing his Christian faith with a neighbor. If his verdict stands, Krimo will be given a five year prison sentence for blasphemy.

Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “While progress was made earlier this year when the Algerian government permitted the EPA to apply for registration, provincial authorities are undermining that decision by detaining Christians on baseless charges and denying congregations their foundational right to worship freely. We urge officials in El Tarf to release the five Christians still in prison. Additionally, we call for the acquittal of Siagh Krimo in Oran whose prison term may be enforced as early as Thursday.”

Please contact the Algerian Embassies in the U.S. (202) 265-2800, the UK (020) 7221-7800, and Canada (613) 789- 8505 and ask them to urge officials in El Tarf to release the five Christians still in prison and acquit Siagh Krimo of blasphemy charges(Source).

Algerian Christians Gather for Worship despite Order to Close Church Doors

Washington, D.C. June 10 (ICC) – In late May, the president of the Protestant Church Association in Algeria (EPA) received the following notice: “I, Mr. Ben Amar Salma, the High Commissioner of the police in Béjaia, have informed Mr. Mustapha Krim, the President of the EPA… to close down all worship places; the places which are used now and the places which are under construction…  The authorities will make sure that the order will be obeyed, otherwise severe consequences and punishments will be applied.”

This notification demanded the permanent closure of the seven Protestant churches in the Béjaia province, located 200 kilometers east of the capital Algiers. The threat came as no surprise to the EPA. Since 2006, Protestants have lived at the mercy of a strict law known as Ordinance 06-03, which has prevented them from worshipping freely or legally.

The ordinance regulates the worship of non-Muslims by requiring churches to obtain government permission to hold services. Despite repeated efforts by the EPA to obtain this permission, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Religious Affairs have failed to create a clear procedure to register churches and it often takes years before a registration is approved.

“We were told we are not in compliance with the 2006 decree, but we have tried to comply,” EPA President Mustapha Krim told the Algerian daily La Dépêche de Kabylie. “We have spoken with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Interior Ministry. We have gone round-and-round with them for years, but nothing gets done.”

Similar notifications, like the one received in Béjaia, have been issued to EPA churches before. “The same thing occurred in Tizi Ouzou when several churches were ordered to close under threats that legal action would be taken against the leaders,” a Protestant church leader in Tizi Ouzou told ICC. “Our church also received this order in 2008, but because we resisted, the church continues to this day.”

In a more recent incident, a church in the village of Makouda, near Tizi Ouzou, was given 48 hours to shut its doors on April 23. The pastor presented documents to the local police department that proved his affiliation with the EPA, but the police commissioner said the documents were not sufficient proof to operate the church. Still, the church continues to meet each week.

While EPA churches continue to hold services despite being warned otherwise, they do not take the threat on the Béjaia churches lightly. “According to this decree, if one does not obey the instructions, the authorities are threatening to do the enforcement," said Krim. “Apparently they want us to disappear from the map.”

Nonetheless, when Sunday morning services rolled around on May 29, the notification was not enough to persuade churches in Béjaia to shut their doors. “Here we are Lord to praise Thy name!” sang a hundred worshippers before Pastor Nordin stepped to the pulpit to read Psalm 23, reminding the congregation of God’s faithfulness even in hardship. “We did not understand the decision of the [governor],” a church member told La Dépêche de Kabylie. “We worship out of conviction. We are not afraid, because we did nothing wrong. We were never forced to choose Jesus, but we did so voluntarily. Whatever the circumstances, we will continue to say: we are here to praise your name Lord.”

At the end of the day, authorities had not interfered and services proceeded as normal. Further indication that the situation was improving soon followed when Minister of Interior Dahou Ould Kablia stated at a June 2 press conference in Algiers that the Protestant Church of Béjaia will be “allowed to continue their activities until they receive the necessary authorization,” Algerian news agency Tout sur l'Algérie reported.

While Christians in Béjaia remain unsure about whether or not they will be allowed to freely worship in the future, one thing is certain – they will not close quietly. “Pastors and church officials… opted for resistance by continuing to worship instead of obeying the order to close their doors,” said a representative of the EPA who has been closely involved in the case.

“They continued to meet and celebrate their religion despite the threats. If the authorities decide to close places of worship, Christians will gather in homes or cell group meeting in the open air, which is already being done in some communities. But, we believe the situation will improve.” (Source)

Algerian Christian Sentenced Beyond Prosecutor’s Request

The good news about this is that there people converting to Christ in Algeria. I pray that the numbers grow.

5/30/2011 Algeria (Compass Direct News) – Convicting a Christian convert for insulting the prophet of Islam, a judge in Algeria last week stunned the Christian community by sentencing him beyond what a prosecutor recommended. In Oran, 470 kilometers (292 miles) west of Algiers, a criminal court in the city’s Djamel district on Wednesday (May 25) sentenced Siaghi Krimo to a prison term of five years for giving a CD about Christianity to a neighbor who subsequently claimed he had insulted Muhammad. Krimo was also fined 200,000 Algerian dinars (US$2,760), according to Algerian news reports.

The prosecutor had reportedly requested the judge sentence him to a two-year prison sentence and a fine of 50,000 Algerian dinars (US$690). The court tried Krimo based solely on the complaint filed by his neighbor, who accused him of attempting to convert him to Christianity.  “He gave a CD to a neighbor, and for that he has to spend five years in prison,” said the president of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), Mustapha Krim, trying to contain his disbelief. “The hearing went well, and the lawyer defended well, yet in the end the judge gave him the maximum punishment.”

Authorities arrested Krimo on April 14 and held him in jail for three days. On May 4 he appeared before the court in Djamel, where the prosecutor requested the two-year sentence in the absence of the neighbor who had accused him – the only witness – and any evidence.  The punishment the prosecutor requested is the minimum for Algerians found guilty of insulting Muhammad or “the messengers of God,” or anyone who “denigrates the dogma or precepts of Islam, be it via writings, drawings, statements or any other means,” according to Article 144 of the Algerian Penal Code.

Krim said that if the courts start interpreting the law as it did in Krimo’s case, then the future of Algeria’s Christians is grim.  “If they start applying the law like that, it means there is no respect for Christianity,” Krim said, “and pretty soon all the Christians of Algeria will find themselves in prison. If the simple fact of giving a CD to your neighbor costs five years in prison, this is catastrophic.”

Defense lawyer Mohamed Ben Belkacem told Compass that the judge’s verdict was unexpected and heavy, indicating the legal system’s prejudice against Christians.  “We did not expect this verdict at all,” Ben Belkacem said. “It was a heavy sentence. The judge punished the ‘Christian,’ not the ‘accused.’ There was no proof, and despite that, the court granted him no extenuating circumstances.”

The lawyer said he plans to appeal the case. Krimo is not required to serve his prison sentence until the court hears his appeal and upholds the conviction.  “My client denied having insulted the prophet, and there is no material proof that supports this accusation,” Ben Belkacem told Compass before the May 25 hearing, “but these types of cases are full of unexpected, last-minute developments, so it is difficult for me to envision the outcome.”

At the time of his arrest, authorities detained another Christian convert along with Krimo but released him the same day. Authorities first took Krimo to his house, which they ransaked, confiscating his Bible, CDs, computer and flash discs, according to sources. His wife was able to retrieve the items the next day.

Krimo had “good contact” with his neighbors and sometimes answered questions about Christianity, according to sources. Krimo and his wife have a baby daughter.  The court delivered its verdict the same week that the governor of the province of Bejaia ordered the closing of seven Protestant churches. Asked if he thought the court had instructions from higher officials to hand down such heavy punishment to Krimo, Krim responded with no hesitation: “It’s certain!” (Source)

Provincial Official in Algeria Orders Churches to Close

I  pray that the Lord Jesus Christ, will keep my Algerian brethren safe during this time of testing. I also pray that the number of Christians will grow in Algeria.

5/25/2011 Algeria (Compass Direct News) – Seven Algerian churches face closure this week after the governor of their province sent them written notice that they were operating “illegally.”

The notice on Sunday (May 22) from Police Chief Ben Salma, citing a May 8 decree from the Bejaia Province governor, also states that all churches “in all parts of the country” will be closed for lack of compliance with registration regulations, but Christian leaders dismissed this assertion as the provincial official does not have nationwide authority.

“All buildings permanently designated for or in the process of being designated for the practice of religious worship other than Muslim will be permanently closed down in all parts of the country, as well as those not having received the conformity authorization from the National Commission,” Salma stated in the notice.

On Sunday (May 22) the governor of Bejaia sent a statement to the president of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) informing him that all churches in the province were illegal because they were unregistered. Registration is required under controversial Ordinance 06-03, but Christians report the government refuses to respond to or grant their applications for registration.

The controversial law was introduced in 2006 to regulate non-Muslim worship. In 2008 the government applied measures in accordance with Ordinance 06-03 to limit the activities of non-Muslim groups, ordering the closure of 26 churches in the Kabylie region because they were not registered. No churches had been closed down since then.

EPA members argue, however, that the law is impossible to implement as officials refuse to register their churches despite efforts to comply. They said the authorities apply the law when they want to harass churches.

“It’s always the same thing,” Mustapha Krim, president of the EPA, told Compass. “They use this law when they want to pester us.”

On Monday (May 23) members of the EPA were scheduled to visit the Minister of Religious Affairs. Instead, however, they were received by one of his deputies, who told them the ministry was not aware of the decision of the Bejaia governor. The meeting was not constructive, according to Krim.

Krim, a resident of Bejaia, sounded relaxed and pragmatic on the phone, but he was adamant that the EPA members had no intention of closing their churches. The letter from the governor did not include a closure date, nor did it give any further reasons local authorities made this decision.

The governor of Bejaia is not particularly religious, according to Krim, making his order to close the churches of his province even more bemusing, he said.

The churches of Bejaia have submitted the documentation the controversial law requires, and the government’s unwillingness to give official permission for the churches to operate is a matter for officials, not churches, to resolve, asserted Krim.

“There are no precise reasons given [for the order to close],” Krim said. “They said we have to be in conformity to the law. We’ve always tried to do this and have submitted all that they requested. Now it’s up to them to give us the authorization and do what they need to do.”

According to the governor’s statement, if the churches do not comply, authorities may use force. The leaders of the churches in Bejaia have decided to conduct church services this weekend as scheduled and “see what happens,” said Krim, who also expects police to show up.

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There are more than 99,000 Christians in Algeria, less than 0.3 percent of the total population of 35.4 million people, according to Operation World. Muslims make up more than 97 percent of the population.
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Algeria: ‘This Savage Kind of Departure’

4/22/2011 Algeria (National Review) – In March 1996, an Islamic terrorist group kidnapped seven French Trappist monks from their remote monastery in Tibhirine, Algeria. They were held for two months, then beheaded.At the heart of this atrocity is a tale of heroic faith, steadfastness, and love, captured in the sublime film Of Gods and Men. It is perhaps the best movie on Christian commitment ever made.

The life of a Trappist monk, devoted to prayer, study, and labor, is not natural cinematic material. Seven times a day he performs the Liturgy of the Hours, singing psalms. At Tibhirine, the monks tended a garden, sold their honey (“Trappist gold”), and served with their Muslim neighbors.
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As Algeria descended into a brutish war between the government and Islamist guerrillas in the 1990s, Tibhirine found itself a fragile oasis in a sea of menace. A terrorist group declared war on foreigners. Just two miles from the monastery, extremists slit the throats of foreign workers. As Kiser writes, Psalm 44 had “acquired an awful reality”: “It is for You that we are being massacred all day long, that we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord?”
…
Common sense said, “Go,” but their devotion to their faith, to their Muslim neighbors, and to one another said, “Stay.” They stayed. They revisited their decision together every six months. It never changed, but not without agony: “How far does one go to save his skin without running the risk of losing his soul?” one monk asked in a letter. “They saw that they had to go forward in their faith, together, a step at a time,” Kiser writes. “It was slow, deliberate, and real, this walking together, each bearing alone the reality of his own faith and his own suffering. They developed a powerful sense of inspiration, of not being alone. Yet the awareness of danger was always with them.”

Christian wrote a last testament well in advance: “If the day comes, and it could be today, that I am a victim of the terrorism that seems to be engulfing all foreigners living in Algeria, I would like my community, my Church, and my family to remember that I have dedicated my life to God and Algeria. “That they accept that the Lord of all life was not a stranger to this savage kind of departure; that they pray for me, wondering how I found myself worthy of such a sacrifice; that they link in their memory this death of mine with all the other deaths equally violent but forgotten in their anonymity.”

He thanked everyone, even his prospective murderer: “And to you, too, my friend of the last moment, who will not know what you are doing. Yes, for you, too, I wish this thank-you, this ‘A-Dieu,’ whose image is in you also, that we may meet in heaven, like happy thieves, if it pleases God, our common Father.”(Source)

Algerian Christians Arrested for Proselytizing and Blasphemy

I pray that my brethren will be found not guilty at this trial and that they will keep on preaching the gospel with boldness:

Washington, D.C. (April 25, 2011) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that two Algerian Christians are scheduled to appear in court on charges of proselytizing and blasphemy, and may face a five year prison sentence. The two men were arrested and briefly imprisoned in Oran on April 14 after sharing their Christian faith with their neighbors.

One of the men, Sofiane, was released a day after their arrest, while Krimo was imprisoned for three days. After the arrest, Algerian police searched Krimo’s home for Bibles and other Christian material. Krimo was known to hold weekly prayer services at his home, which Algerian Christians suspect were being closely monitored by the police.

A court hearing, initially scheduled for April 27, was postponed to a later date. Algerian Christians are fearful that a law introduced in 2006 – requiring religious services to obtain a government permit to worship – will be applied, which may result in a five year imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 Algerian dinars (equivalent to 1,390.00 USD). Church leadership has expressed frustration over the government’s negligence to lay out a set procedure to register a church or to approve a permit quickly.

“The Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) engaged a lawyer to defend Krimo and Sofiane. We are hopeful that they will be acquitted,” a pastor in Tizi Ouzou told ICC. “Although our constitution says to respect other faiths other than Islam, the government is Islamic, and article two says ‘Islam is the religion of State.’ There is no respect for human rights or religious freedom and the protestant church is suffering.”

The arrests came a day before Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika pledged to his country that he would reform the constitution to allow freedom of press and free elections. Since the current constitution was applied in 1996 to strengthen emergency laws and ban religious-based parties following a war between the military and Islamic militants, the Algerian government has been unable to contain Islamists who have been largely responsible for attacks on Christians.

Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “We urge the Algerian government to expand its pledge to reform the constitution by also offering greater freedoms to Christians and other religious minorities. The first step is to remove the legislation introduced in 2006 that makes it nearly impossible for Christians to worship openly. It is time for the Algerian government to prove that they stand behind article 36 of the constitution, which states that freedom of creed is inviolable, by acquitting Krimo and Sofiane of the charges of blasphemy and proselytizing, and demonstrating to the world that Algeria is steadily making progress to become a country that respects the right to worship freely.” (Source)