Algeria

How are Christians persecuted in Algeria?

• Conversion from Islam is forbidden and dangerous. Many choose to hide their faith completely.
• Male converts can face additional persecution from their families. This may include beatings, being forced out of their homes, verbal insults and threats. 
• Female converts may be placed under house arrest by their families or forcibly married to a Muslim man.
• Christian men in Algeria regularly face harassment in their workplaces. Because men are the main breadwinners, loss of work can have a crippling effect on the entire family.
• Christian women can face harassment (particularly if they are unveiled), sexual assault and death threats.
• The wave of church closures by the authorities has deprived many Algerian believers of fellowship through attending church and discipleship classes, as well as the opportunity to be baptised. Women in particular are affected by this. They do not have the freedom to travel to remote churches to access Christian teaching and fellowship.

Why are Christians persecuted in Algeria?

• The sharp increase of government pressure against the Algerian Protestant Church continued into 2024. In 2023, almost all Algeria’s Protestant churches had been ordered to close. In 2024, all remaining churches have been closed or forced to stop regular services, driving Protestants into isolation.
• The country has laws that regulate non-Muslim worship, including legal restrictions prohibiting anything that would ‘shake the faith of a Muslim’.
• Radical Islamic teachers, along with state officials who adopt the views of those teachers, spread hatred and oppression of Christians.
• Algerian Christians, most of whom are converts from Islam, risk opposition from family members and extended family who consider conversion shameful.

Who is particularly vulnerable in Algeria?

• The southern part of Algeria is the most difficult place for Christians in the country, particularly rural areas, where a more conservative form of Islam has significant support. However, even in Algeria’s northern regions, where most Christians live, the situation remains difficult. 

What has changed in Algeria in the past year?

• Even though Algeria’s ranking has fallen four places from last year, conditions are not necessarily any better for God’s people. Rather, so many Protestant churches have been forced to close that there simply aren’t many left to shut down.
• This year also saw new court cases against church leaders and continued pressure on followers of Jesus. 

How can I help Christians in North Africa?

Please keep praying for your brothers and sisters in Algeria. Your prayers make an enormous difference to those following Jesus no matter the cost.

Open Doors works with local partners and churches in North Africa to provide leadership and discipleship training, livelihood support, legal aid, trauma counselling, Bibles and pastoral care.