Introduction
In recent years, Algeria has seen an escalation of discrimination and persecution faced by its religious minorities, despite the coexistence of multiple faiths within its Muslim-majority society.
Muslim Ahmadis, whose beliefs have been subject to criticism due to their differing doctrinal positions and interpretation of texts in the Qur’an and Sunnah, have been subject to rejection by government and Islamic institutions (Al-Sawwan, 2025; OHCHR, 2021). Ibadite Mozabites have been prone to discrimination in the M’zab region due to their ethnic (Amazigh) and Khariji beliefs (Bessadi, 2019; HRW, 2017a). Moreover, a growing Protestant community in Kabyle has faced strict enforcement of regulations preventing the registration and establishment of confessional organisations.
Despite Algerian officials repeatedly denying allegations of persecution (Middle East Monitor, 2022), several reports indicate that since 2016 authorities have initiated a campaign against minorities, leading to arbitrary detentions, unfounded prosecutions, attacks against places of worship, and other acts of social ostracism (OHCHR, 2017; HRW, 2017b; Garcia, 2020).
While Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Algeria has been party since 1989, does not permit any limitations to the freedom of thought and conscience, or the freedom to have or adopt a belief, it does permit restrictions on the freedom to manifest religion when: (1) limitations are prescribed by law and (2) are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others (OHCHR, 1993).
This article will examine the situation of two minorities: Muslim Ahmadis and Kabylian Protestants. It will argue that the limitations imposed for the institution of confessional associations, as well as the implementation of policies leading to the dispossession of places of worship, do not meet the conditions required for permissible restrictions and therefore constitute a breach of obligations under Article 18 of the Covenant.
Ahmadis in the hide
In 1973, the Islamic Cooperation Organization (ICO) declared Ahmadism as a sect unrelated to Islam, and for decades Ahmadis have been unfoundedly accused of apostasy, distorting Muslim principles, and labelled as heretics by Algerian authorities and Sunni practitioners (360 Afrique, 2017; Al-Shat, 2025).
In 2016, the Algerian government began a media persecution campaign against members of the Ahmadi community. The Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs referred to the presence of Ahmadis as a “foreign sectarian invasion”, and other public statements made by government officials openly rejecting Ahmadis were documented by Human Rights Watch (HRW, 2018; Baker, 2016). Since then, a wave of arrests was carried out until 2018-2019, when the largest number of arrests and prosecutions was documented in various reports (HRW, 2018).
At least 280 Ahmadis were prosecuted in 2017, following one of the first waves of arbitrary arrests against this community (Amnesty International, 2017). By October 2020, Ahmadi community leaders estimated that 220 members remained as defendants under the criminal court system (USDOS, 2021). In 2023, the estimate dropped to 33 cases, but by late 2024 this figure rose again to 50 individuals (USDOS, 2023). These estimates, however, do not necessarily reflect yearly new detentions but may also include cases that have remained backlogged year after year due to long, administrative delays at different levels of the Algerian court system. Many of these individuals, according to the 2024 report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), have been sentenced for multiple alleged offenses, which may have impacted the time awaiting criminal proceedings.
Members of this community have been prosecuted for violations such as “collection of unauthorised donations”, or “constitution of an association without authorisation”, grounded in Order n° 06-03 (which will be further discussed below), as well as violations of religious order prescribed by the Criminal Code, including “offenses to the prophet and God’s sent”, “exercise of Imam’s function without authorisation”, “distribution of documents intended to undermine the faith of Muslims”, or “denigrating Islam” (Garcia, 2020; Amnesty International, 2022).
They have reportedly been subjected to government surveillance, repeated police interrogation and house searches, where passports, phones and laptops are seized (Amnesty International, 2022; USCIRF, 2024). There are also indications that even children have been subjected to investigation (Guissi, 2024).
Aside from the arbitrariness of the detentions committed, such policies manifestly indicate a form of intimidation aimed at preventing a community from practicing and observing their religion, motivated by a state objective to suppress beliefs or expressions of identity considered contrary to the narrative of the Algerian nation (Zemirli Z. A., 2022). The state imposed arbitrary measures and inflicted conditions that prevented the community from freely manifesting their belief. No Ahmadi practice has so far been proven to pose a risk to national security; therefore, any law enforcement measure aimed at preventing confessional practice falls short of the standard set out in General Comment 22 for restricting this right.
The persecution campaign initiated in 2016 extended for several years, and numerous reports were made public by various organisations until 2022, when the larger efforts of documenting violations against this community are traceable. However, over the past two years, very few reports on attacks against the community have been published, leaving some uncertainty about the effects these repressive policies have had in recent years.
There are no official statistics about the Ahmadi population, although the 2026 USCIRF report indicates a sharp fall in the number of members present in Algeria in recent years. According to this report, the Ahmadiyya population in Algeria has dwindled from approximately 2,000 in 2018 to just 200 in 2024 (USCIRF, 2026). This could indicate a dramatic exodus of Ahmadis, who often apply for asylum or refugee status in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the United States (Rabwah Times, 2016). Alternatively, continuous persecution may have forced the community to go underground and practice in secrecy to avoid harassment and institutionalised persecution.
Kabylian Protestants: an Attributed Political Dissent
Evangelical Protestants in the Kabyle region have also systematically faced persecution in recent years, while their places of worship have been subjected to dismantlement. Between 2017 and 2018, seven churches were closed by Algerian authorities, and dozens more received unfounded notifications of closure (Zeidane, 2018). As of June 2022, more than 22 churches affiliated with the Protestant Church Association of Algeria (EPA) were ordered by the government to close under Order n° 06-03 (Religious Freedom Institute, 2023).
The confessional organisation Christian International Solidarity recently accused the Algerian government of systematically dismantling all the Protestant sites in the country (CSI, 2025). A systematic policy of arbitrarily revoking authorisation, censoring, or forcing dissolution of sites of worship, or even preventing the establishment of new ones may violate the obligation to refrain from using coercion to impair the right to have or adopt a religion or belief, provided by Article 18(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Further, following General Comment 22, the freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief is protected unconditionally, and does not permit any limitations, as is the right of everyone to hold opinions without interference in Article 19(1). However, converts often suffer repression from authorities, particularly Protestant converts, who are seen as political militants opposed to Islam – religion considered by the government narrative as the essence of the Algerian nation (Kaouès, 2018). They are often mistreated and many of them are prosecuted under unfounded charges such as “threat to national security” (CSI, 2025).
Several members of the Protestant community have been reportedly arrested as well, including the Vice President of the Protestant Church of Algeria, who was sentenced in November 2023 to one year in prison for conducting an “unauthorised worship service” in an “unauthorised building” (Van den Bossche, 2023).
The number of Kabylian Protestants remains hard to establish, according to Séveirac (2025), since they must often hide their faith and practice. This community faces a double persecution, not only due to their confessional practice, but due to their ethnic Amazigh affiliation. According to Fatiha Kaouès (2018), Algerian authorities are suspicious of Kabylian Protestants, easily associating them with separatists of this region marked by a “Berberist” militancy historically opposed to central power.
In the view of Zemirli (2022), the government’s obsession with foreign interference –particularly through evangelical missionaries– as well as the fear of separatist claims arising from evangelical conversions in Kabyle, were the main reasons behind the adoption of Order n° 06-03 that, as discussed below, has been used as the main legal basis to restrict freedom of religion, confessional associations and the manifestation of beliefs in the country.
Institutional Persecution of Faith
Algeria’s new Constitution, adopted in November 2020, dropped “freedom of religion and belief” from the Rights and Freedoms chapter and only upheld “freedom to practice religion” while stating that it “must be exercised in respect of the law”, leaving the protection of this right under domestic law largely obstructed for confessional minorities (Zemirli, 2020; Amnesty International, 2022).
Order n° 06-03, adopted in 2006, provides under Article 3 that non-Muslim confessional associations benefit from state protection. However, it further prescribes administrative conditions for the exercise of other religions practiced in the country, which requires all non-Muslim organisations to register with the Minister for Non-Muslim Affairs to conduct activities and establish places of worship (Human Rights Watch, 2014), and imposes an obligation to request authorisation from a National Commission for establishing and using places of worship, collecting donations, and confining expression of religion to authorised places only (Al-Quds Al-Arabi, 2025). Any failure to comply with the order may lead to administrative sanctions, and in some cases, even criminal penalties.
This order is increasingly leveraged by the state to prevent the creation of places of worship, or shut down those already existing, affecting both Ahmadi and Protestant communities (Religious Freedom Institute, 2023). Its enforcement further prevents religious communities from constituting confessional associations and receiving authorisation to use places of worship also undermining the freedom to manifest their religion. While restrictions to the freedom of manifesting their religion, as prescribed by Order n° 06-03, may be nominally permitted by ICCPR, the “necessity” test is undermined given that the aim of such regulation is to suppress proselytism in a context of growing non-Muslim faiths.
General Comment 22 indicates that Article 18(2) bars coercion that would impair the right to have or adopt a religion or belief, and even though self-conversion is not criminalised in Algeria, the act of converting others is. Order n° 06-03 codifies specific criminal offenses aimed at punishing proselytism directed at Muslims. In particular, Article 11 provides grounds for prosecution against anyone who “incites, coerces, or uses means of enticement with the aim of converting a Muslim to another religion” (USCIRF, 2024; Zemirli Z. A., 2022); a provision that has been used to prevent and criminalise religious conversion in an attempt to preserve the national homogeneity narrative based on Islam (Le Matin d’Algerie, 2025).
Furthermore, Article 18(2) bars penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers to adhere to a religious belief or congregation, and other policies or practices having the same intention or effect. Although the enforcement of both Criminal Code and Order n° 06-03, which it does not manifestly intend to coerce minorities to adhere to Sunni Islam, it does seek to prevent such communities from manifesting their religion in places of worship, effectively forcing them to disguise or adopt Sunni practices.
The collective practice of religion by non-Muslims is not solely governed by restrictive administrative law, but also by prosecution grounded in the Criminal Code. According to the 2024 USCIRF report on Religious Freedom, the Algerian government largely relied on Article 144 of the Criminal Code, which criminalises “blasphemy”, to continue its systematic persecution of minorities (USCIRF, 2024). However, the persecution policies go beyond government practice. They appear to be embedded in civilian institutions that replicate discriminatory narratives based on national identity or security concerns.
Recent academic articles published in the Arabic Journal of Human and Social Sciences, and the Journal of Scientific Research and Islamic Studies, attempt to justify the claim that religious minorities, particularly Ahmadism, pose a threat to the nation’s social cohesion, community security and doctrinal stability of Islam in the country (Nacim, 2025; Laribi, 2026). Academic institutions participate as well in creating narratives that exclude religious minorities from the national imaginary, and conceive them as a risk to Algeria’s Islamic identity.
According to Rafael Palomino, professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, denying the legal personality or status of a religious group constitutes a manifestation of persecution (Azarkan, 2021). While this article did not intend to argue whether the conditions imposed on minorities may amount to ‘persecution’ in its conventional sense, it is nevertheless important to note that institutionalised conditions in which religious minorities are denied or restricted in their ability to establish and practice a religious belief may, in fact, suggest a systematic form of persecution, rather than isolated instances of discrimination.
Conclusion
The situation faced by Ahmadi and Kabylian Protestant communities illustrates a broader pattern in which narrow interpretation and strict enforcement of policies institutionalise restrictions on the exercise of freedom of religion, in a manner that cannot be reconciled with Algeria’s obligations under international human rights law.
The evidence documented by various organisations suggests that these measures are not driven by necessity, but by an intent to preserve a singular religious and national identity at the expense of pluralism and human rights.
The enforcement and effects of these policies on minorities, who are seemingly being forced either into exile or silence, may also constitute further breaches of obligations under ICCPR, such as freedom from arbitrary arrest, protection from interference with privacy, the right to peaceful assembly and association, equality before the law, and fair trial guarantees.
Beyond legal reform, meaningful protection of religious freedom in Algeria depends on the equal application of domestic regulations, following the principles and obligations of non-discrimination established by various international mechanisms, and the non-arbitrary application of measures against communities excluded from the national identity narratives.
Algeria has a long way ahead towards inclusion, but a valuable opportunity exists to align domestic regulations with the human rights standards set by the international framework.
Bibliography
360 Afrique. (2017, August 25). Algérie: accusés d’hérésie, les ahmadis prient clandestinement. 360 Afrique. Retrieved from https://afrique.le360.ma/algerie/culture/2017/08/25/14570-algerie-accuses-dheresie-les-ahmadis-prient-clandestinement-14570/.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi. (2025, March 18). لجنة أمريكية تطالب بربط المساعدات الأمريكية للجزائر بالتقدم في ملف الحريات الدينية. Al-Quds Al-Arabi. Retrieved from https://shorturl.at/nDCoU.
Al-Sawwan, B. (2025, June 23). القاديانية.. 135 عاما من الجدل حول النبوة والانتماء للإسلام. Al Jazeera. Retrieved from https://shorturl.at/sR8pT.
Al-Shat, S. (2025, April 05). “دين السلام والنور الأحمدي”… لماذا خرج أتباعه مبشّرين بقدوم “المهدي” في المغرب؟. Raseef. Retrieved from https://shorturl.at/5B8Ga.
Amnesty International. (2017, June 19). Algérie. Vague d’arrestations et de poursuites contre des centaines d’ahmadis. Press Release. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/fr/latest/press-release/2017/06/algeria-wave-of-arrests-and-prosecutions-of-hundreds-of-ahmadis/.
Amnesty International. (2022, June 12). Algeria: Release members of Ahmadi religious minority. Amnesty International News. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/06/algeria-release-members-of-ahmadi-religious-minority/.
Amnesty International. (2022, September 05). Algeria: Drop all charges against members of a religious minority. Amnesty International News. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/algeria-drop-all-charges-against-members-of-a-religious-minority/.
Azarkan, M. (2021, January 22). Persécution religieuse des musulmans ahmadi. Atalayar. Retrieved from https://www.atalayar.com/fr/articulo/societe/persecution-religieuse-des-musulmans-ahmadi/20210122100935149502.html.
Baker, S. (2016, October 09). Mohamed Aïssa : «Notre référent religieux est menacé par une invasion sectaire». Algerie Patriotique. Retrieved from https://algeriepatriotique.com/2016/10/09/mohamed-aissa-notre-referent-religieux-est-menace-par-une-invasion-sectaire/.
Bessadi, N. (2019, November 26). En Algérie, les militants mozabites de Ghardaïa dénoncent « une guerre sans merci de l’appareil judiciaire ». Middle East Eye. Retrieved from https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/decryptages/en-algerie-les-militants-mozabites-de-ghardaia-denoncent-une-guerre-sans-merci-de-0.
Christian Solidarity International CSI (2025, July 15). Les chrétiens de Kabylie lancent un appel urgent aux États-Unis. CSI Actualites. Retrieved from https://www.csi-france.fr/actualites/algerie-chretiens-kabylie-appel-etats-unis/.
Garcia, A. (2020, December 23). L’Algérie poursuit la persécution de la communauté Ahmadiyya. Atalayar. Retrieved from https://www.atalayar.com/fr/articulo/societe/lalgerie-poursuit-persecution-communaute-ahmadiyya/20201223152607149023.html.
Guissi, Y. (2024, December 07). Algeria Imprisoned him for his Faith, now he Lives in Spain. The Devine Just State. Retrieved from https://www.divinejuststate.com/post/spain-recognizes-cherif-as-a-refugee.
Human Rights Watch HRW. (2014, March 30). Algeria: Bureaucratic Ploys Used to Stifle Associations. Press Release. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/30/algeria-bureaucratic-ploys-used-stifle-associations.
HRW. (2017a, May 29). Algérie : Assurer un procès équitable aux défenseurs des droits des minorités. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2017/05/29/algerie-assurer-un-proces-equitable-aux-defenseurs-des-droits-des-minorites.
HRW. (2017b, September 14). Algérie : Les persécutions contre une minorité religieuse doivent cesser. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2017/09/04/algerie-les-persecutions-contre-une-minorite-religieuse-doivent-cesser.
HRW. (2018, January 2018). Algeria: New Trials Shake Ahmadi Minority. Press Release. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/01/22/algeria-new-trials-shake-ahmadi-minority.
Kaouès, F. (2018). Les convertis évangéliques face à l’islam d’État en Algérie. Critique internationale, 80(3), 135-154. doi:https://doi.org/10.3917/crii.080.0135.
Laribi, A. R. (2026, March 09). Qadianism And Its Attempts To Spread In Algeria. Journal of Scientific Research and Islamic Studies, 18(1), 195-218. Retrieved from https://asjp.cerist.dz/en/article/289147.
Le Matin d’Algerie. (2025, December 08). Libertés religieuses : entre discours officiel et réalités contrastées. Le Matin d’Algerie. Retrieved from https://lematindalgerie.com/libertes-religieuses-entre-discours-officiel-et-realites-contrastees/.
Middle East Monitor. (2022, December 19). Algeria: Foreign religious freedom reports ‘inaccurate’. Middle East Monitor. Retrieved from https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221219-algeria-foreign-religious-freedom-reports-inaccurate/.
Nacim, B. (2025, November 05). Esoteric Movements In Algeria And Their Threat To Societal Security: Trends And Counter – Strategies. Dirassat & Abhat. The Arabic Journal of Human and Social Sciences, 17(5), 45-53. Retrieved from https://asjp.cerist.dz/en/article/277011.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights OHCHR (1993). General Comment 22. Adopted at the Forty-eighth Session of the Human Rights Committee, on 30 July 1993, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.4 Retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/legal/general/hrc/1993/13375.
OHCHR (2017). Mandats du Groupe de travail sur la détention arbitraire. Report UA-DZA-3/2017. Retrieved from https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=23059.
OHCHR (2021, July 13). International Community must pay attention to the persecution of Ahmadi Muslims worldwide. Press Release. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/07/international-community-must-pay-attention-persecution-ahmadi-muslims.
Rabwah Times. (2016, September 14). Thousands of Ahmadis fleeing persecution in Pakistan and seeking Asylum overseas. Rabwah Times. Retrieved from https://www.rabwah.net/thousands-of-ahmadis-fleeing-persecution-in-pakistan-and-seeking-asylum-overseas/.
Religious Freedom Institute. (2023). Country Overview Algeria. Retrieved from https://religiousfreedominstitute.org/country-overview-algeria/.
Séveirac, C. (2025, December 29). Charlotte Touati : “Les chrétiens kabyles sont invisibilisés”. Aleteia. Retrieved from https://fr.aleteia.org/2025/12/29/charlotte-touati-les-chretiens-kabyles-sont-invisibilises/.
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom USCIRF. (2024). Algeria Country Update. Retrieved from https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/uscirf-releases-report-religious-freedom-algeria.
USCIRF. (2026). United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Annual Report. Retrieved from https://www.uscirf.gov/annual-reports.
United States Department of State USDOS. (2021). Report on International Religious Freedom: Algeria. US Department of State. Retrieved from https://2021-2025.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/algeria/.
USDOS. (2023). Report on International Religious Freedom: Algeria. US Department of State. Retrieved from https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/algeria/.
Van den Bossche, T. (2023, December 22). Algerian Law Against the Religious Freedom of Christians. European Center for Law and Justice. Retrieved from https://eclj.org/religious-freedom/un/algerian-law-against-the-religious-freedom-of-christians?lng=en.
Zeidane, K. (2018, October 25). Algérie: les chrétiens Kabyles dénoncent les fermetures d’églises et le harcèlement. Le 360 Afrique. Retrieved from https://afrique.le360.ma/autres-pays/societe/2018/10/25/23597-algerie-les-chretiens-kabyles-denoncent-les-fermetures-deglises-et-le-harcelement-23597/.
Zemirli, Z. A. (2020). Le statut juridique des non-musulmans en Algérie. L’Harmattan. Retrieved from https://pluriel.fuce.eu/publication/the-legal-status-of-non-muslims-in-algeria-the-example-of-evangelicals-and-ahmadis/?lang=en.
Zemirli, Z. A. (2022, September 01). Algériens non musulmans : statut juridique et rapports avec l’État. Centre Arabe de Recherches et d’Études Politiques de Paris. Retrieved from https://carep-paris.org/recherche/algeriens-non-musulmans-statut-juridique-et-rapports-avec-letat/.
