ALGIERS, ALGERIA (BosNewsLife)– Supporters of an Algerian pastor and his co-
worker have urged prayers after an appeal hearing against a lengthy prison term related to their Christian work was postponed.
Pastor Rachid Seighir and Nouh Hamimi were sentenced February 27 to two years in prison for “shaking the faith” of Muslims through Christian literature sold in their bookstore.
The ruling followed a reported raid on the Algerian church-run shop in September 2017. An appeal of the case was scheduled Sunday, for April 18, but “it has now been postponed until May 16,” trial observers said.
It was the latest setback for the pastor whose Christian bookstore and congregation faced legal problems for years in the Muslim nation. In 2008, Pastor Rachid was reportedly convicted of similar charges but acquitted on appeal.
Christian in Algeria Imprisoned for Cartoon on Facebook
Christian in Algeria Imprisoned for Cartoon on Facebook
TIZI-OUZOU,
Algeria, February 1, 2021 (Morning Star News) – A Christian who had received and reposted a cartoon of the prophet of Islam on his Facebook account three years ago was not too concerned when gendarmerie showed up at his door on Jan. 20.
By the next day, the 43-year-old father of four young children had been sentenced to five years in prison under an Algerian law against insulting Muhammad, sources said.
Hamid (surname withheld for security reasons), a poultry farmer in El-Aiyaida, 19 miles east of Oran, had not heard from authorities since reposting the cartoon on his Facebook page in 2018, said Rachid Seighir, pastor of