AFP/File – Algerians visit the graves relatlives on the first day of the annual Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in … ALGIERS (AFP) – An Algerian court sentenced a young man to two years in prison for breaking the fast of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan late in August, the daily El-Watan reported Thursday.
Bouchouta Fares, 27, who was brought to trial at Oum El Bouaghi, 500 kilometres (300 miles) southeast of Algiers, was also fined to a fine of 100,000 dinars (972 euros,1,359 dollars) Monday for "breaching a precept of Islam," the report said.
Islam is the state religion in the north African country.
Acting on a tip-off, police in the town close to Ain el Beida carried out a raid on an abandoned building in the town centre, looking for a group of people breaking the fast. All of them fled with the exception of Fares, who was taken into custody, the paper said.
El-Watan noted that sentences varied radically from one court to another for the same offence.
Two Christians who were breaking the fast were acquitted on October 5 at Ain el Hammam in the northeast of Algeria, where the prosecutor had asked that they be jailed for three years.
A judge in this Kabylie region rejected the case on the grounds that "no article (of law) provides for legal action" if the Ramadan fast is broken.
Another trial is scheduled for November 8 at Akbou, also in the Kabylie region, where nine people accused of breaking the fast will be brought to court.
In a statement Thursday, the rights group Collectif SOS Libertes denounced the "Taliban-like" trials, calling them an "inquisition (like) the mediaeval practice of trials for witchcraft."
Collectif SOS Libertes estimated that the multiplication of such trials showed that they were "an operation planned at higher level" which it could not explain but urged the government to end.
Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia on Thursday told parliament that the freedom of religion will "always be guaranteed with respect for the law", in the wake of several cases against people who have converted to Christianity, notably in Kabylie.
"Distant or nearer history is there to bear witness that the Algerian people have always been welcoming and even protective, when it was necessary, for practioners of other religions of the people of the Book," Ouyahia said, referring to the Old Testament.
Practising a faith -- Muslim or otherwise -- is conditional in Algeria on obtaining a document stating the place of worship and another giving the name of the preacher, under a law passed in February 2006.
Bouchouta Fares, 27, who was brought to trial at Oum El Bouaghi, 500 kilometres (300 miles) southeast of Algiers, was also fined to a fine of 100,000 dinars (972 euros,1,359 dollars) Monday for "breaching a precept of Islam," the report said.
Islam is the state religion in the north African country.
Acting on a tip-off, police in the town close to Ain el Beida carried out a raid on an abandoned building in the town centre, looking for a group of people breaking the fast. All of them fled with the exception of Fares, who was taken into custody, the paper said.
El-Watan noted that sentences varied radically from one court to another for the same offence.
Two Christians who were breaking the fast were acquitted on October 5 at Ain el Hammam in the northeast of Algeria, where the prosecutor had asked that they be jailed for three years.
A judge in this Kabylie region rejected the case on the grounds that "no article (of law) provides for legal action" if the Ramadan fast is broken.
Another trial is scheduled for November 8 at Akbou, also in the Kabylie region, where nine people accused of breaking the fast will be brought to court.
In a statement Thursday, the rights group Collectif SOS Libertes denounced the "Taliban-like" trials, calling them an "inquisition (like) the mediaeval practice of trials for witchcraft."
Collectif SOS Libertes estimated that the multiplication of such trials showed that they were "an operation planned at higher level" which it could not explain but urged the government to end.
Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia on Thursday told parliament that the freedom of religion will "always be guaranteed with respect for the law", in the wake of several cases against people who have converted to Christianity, notably in Kabylie.
"Distant or nearer history is there to bear witness that the Algerian people have always been welcoming and even protective, when it was necessary, for practioners of other religions of the people of the Book," Ouyahia said, referring to the Old Testament.
Practising a faith -- Muslim or otherwise -- is conditional in Algeria on obtaining a document stating the place of worship and another giving the name of the preacher, under a law passed in February 2006.
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