TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – Authorities in Algeria on Wednesday (Oct. 16) closed the Tafath (Light) church building in Tizi-Ouzou, a day after sealing shut the country’s largest church despite resistance, sources said. A third church in northern Algeria, Source of Light church in Makouda, was also closed on Tuesday (Oct. 15). Pastor Mustapha […]
‘Sad Day’ in Algeria as Officials Seal Buildings of Country’s Largest Churches
Police use force to eject Christians resisting in protest.
October 17, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
Peaceful Sit-In Provokes Order to Close Church in Algeria, Christian Leader Says
Head of EPA receives notice that his congregation’s building is targeted.
October 14, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – A Christian protest of Algeria’s church closures resulted in an order on Sunday (Oct. 13) to seal the church building of the head of the umbrella group of Protestant churches, the leader said. Salah Chalah, head of the Protestant Church of Algeria umbrella group (l’Église Protestante d’Algérie, or EPA), […]
Christians in Algeria Hit with More Church Closures
Police seal building without advance notice.
September 26, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – Authorities today sealed shut a church building in Tigzirt, Algeria, two days after shutting another building serving two churches without prior notice, sources said. Acting on orders from the governor of Tizi-Ouzou Province, eight police officers arrived at 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday (Sept. 24) at the Church of Boghni […]
Hopeful Signs for Change in Sudan Meet with Cautious Pessimism
Some have seen too much persecution to believe in imminent improvement.
September 12, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
JUBA, South Sudan (Morning Star News) – The appointment of a Christian woman to the council overseeing transition to civilian rule in Sudan is a hopeful sign, but some persecution-weary Christians are less than optimistic about prospects for improved religious rights. Raja Nicola Eissa Abdel-Masih, a Coptic Christian who long served as a judge in […]
After Christians in Algeria Prevented Church Closure, Authorities Seal It Shut
Officials threaten to imprison property owners of two churches.
September 3, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – After Christians fended off an attempt to close a church building in Algeria on Aug. 26, gendarmes arrived early Monday morning (Sept. 2) and sealed it shut, sources said. Church leaders and their attorney had asserted that the order from the head of Bejaia Province to close the church in […]
Church in Algeria Fends Off Authorities’ Attempt to Close It
Gendarmerie show up at worship site; Christians refuse to leave.
August 27, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – A brigade of gendarmerie showed up at an evangelical worship site in Algeria on Monday (Aug. 26) to execute the latest of several church closure orders from provincial authorities, but Christian leaders thwarted the attempt. When Akbou gendarmerie parked their vehicles at 9:30 a.m. at the church courtyard in Ighzer […]
As Church Worships, Police in Algeria Arrive to Seal Building
Congregation initially refuses to leave.
August 7, 2019 By - 2 Comments
TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – Interrupting a worship service, police on Tuesday (Aug. 6) sealed a church building in north-central Algeria, less than three months after locking shut another site in the same area. “I am deeply saddened by so much injustice – it breaks my heart,” pastor Messaoud Takilt told Morning Star News. “This […]
New Christian in Algeria Sentenced for ‘Organizing Worship’ in His Home
Separately, another judge fines owner of land where church was meeting in a tent.
June 25, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – A judge on June 16 handed a Christian father of two in northwest Algeria a suspended prison sentence and a hefty fine for holding worship at his house, four days before another judge fined the owner of land that a church uses. Prosecutors had sought a six-month prison sentence and […]
Muslim Clerics Threaten Sudanese Christian in Egypt
Convert from Islam fled torture in Sudan.
June 4, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
JUBA, South Sudan (Morning Star News) – Days after Muslim leaders in Egypt came to his apartment to warn him to return to Islam, a Sudanese Christian in Cairo received a death threat by phone last week, he said. Having fled Sudan after authorities tortured and threatened to kill him if he refused to return to […]
Another Church Building Sealed Shut in Algeria
Non-Muslim places of worship continue to be targeted.
May 23, 2019 By - 1 Comment
TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (Morning Star News) – Authorities in north-central Algeria sealed shut another church building on Wednesday (May 22), closing it and its Bible school, Christian leaders said. Citing a law that requires authorization for non-Muslim places of worship, gendarmes locked the doors of the evangelical church building in Boudjima, 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of […]