Algerian church leaders to give UK Government full picture on persecution

Senior leaders from the Algerian Protestant Church Association are flying to London to brief parliamentarians over how Christians in Algeria are being persecuted.

The briefing will be hosted by Lord Bates of Langbaurgh at the Houses of Parliament on 10 November, and will be attended by a number of MPs, including Mark Pritchard, MP for the Wrekin and Andrew Selous, MP for South West Bedfordshire. The two church leaders will also meet Bill Rammell, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, at the Foreign Office to discuss the situation in Algeria and express their concerns.

The keynote advocacy initiative follows a high profile campaign by Open Doors this summer, involving nearly 2,500 people writing to the Algerian Ambassador to express their grave concerns about religion law, 'Ordinance 06-03'. This law prohibits any Christian activity from taking place outside of state-recognised church buildings and bans evangelistic literature of every description, together with any attempt to evangelise Muslims.

In the last 12 months, approximately half of Algeria's 50 or so Protestant churches have been ordered to close and more than a dozen Christians have experienced harassment and arbitrary arrest by the authorities. Since Open Doors' campaign started there have been no more closures, although many individuals have been charged and cases against them are currently going through the courts.

Earlier this year, over 100 MPs signed an Early Day Motion in the Commons expressing concern about religious liberty in Algeria.

Open Doors' advocacy initiatives are attracting increasing cross-party support from parliamentarians. Earlier this month, Jeffrey Donaldson MP strongly backed its campaign in support of Christians in Orissa, India, where more than 50 people have been killed in the last few weeks. He and nearly 50 other MPs wrote to Foreign Secretary David Miliband demanding his urgent intervention to help prevent further bloodshed.

The Algerian pastors will also speak to hundreds of youngsters at City Temple church as part of Pray in their Shoes, an event taking place in London on Saturday. The event will involve young people praying outside the embassies of some of the countries where persecution against Christians is most severe.

Eddie Lyle, CEO of Open Doors said: "The enforcement of Ordinance 06-03 is all the more shocking as we approach the 60th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Algerian government is not only acting in direct contravention of the religious freedom provisions enshrined in the UDHR - but also of Article 36 of its own constitution.

"As followers of Christ we are compelled to speak up on behalf of those who clearly have no voice when we see such flagrant restrictions on freedom of religious liberty. We have therefore vowed to keep this matter firmly on the radar screens of the UK government and Parliament."