By BosNewsLife Africa Service
ALGIERS, ALGERIA (BosNewsLife)– Four Christian men of a small Protestant church in Algeria are appealing a court decision to hand them suspended prison sentences for worshiping without a state permission, BosNewsLife established Monday, December 27.News of the appeal comes after a court on December 12 reduced the sentences of Abdenour Raid, Nacer Mokrani and Idir Haoudj—got to two months. The fourth man, Reverend Mahmoud Yahou, was sentenced to three months in jail and a 1,000-dinar fine (US$ 132).
The prosecutor had asked for one-year prison sentences for each defendant.
Defence lawyer Mohamed Benbelkacem said the men were found guilty of “clandestinely housing a pastor” who was to hold a conference in their village of Ait Atteli. The Christians said they want to appeal the sentence to avoid a government crackdown on other churches.
The verdict was the latest in a series of cases targeting converted Christians in the country.
