TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria, January 17, 2020 (Morning Star News) – An order to close a church building in the city of Oran, Algeria was issued last fall but was not conveyed to the pastor until last weekend, sources said.
Pastor Rachid Seighir did not receive the Nov. 10, 2019 closure order until Saturday (Jan. 11), he said.
“This official document was to be delivered by a bailiff appointed by the public prosecutor at the court of Oran [Province], but it wasn’t so,” Pastor Seighir said, adding that his attorney took the initiative to obtain the ruling. “This judgment dates from Nov. 10, 2019, and usually affected people have 10 days to appeal.”
The pastor’s lawyer notified the judge of the delay so that the church can still appeal within 10 days of Jan. 11, when he received the order, Pastor Seighir said.
The then-governor of Oran Province, Mouloud Cherifi, on Dec. 28, 2017, had sent notice that the “church is not in accordance with the laws in force,” namely registration under Law 03/06, which regulates non-Muslim worship. The 2006 law requires non-Muslim worship buildings to be licensed, but all applications to do so have remained unattended.
Cherifi gave the congregation three months to comply with Law 03/06 or it would be closed, he said. Before the three-month deadline, however, police arrived by order of the governor on Feb. 19, 2018, to seal the worship hall of…
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