Bouhafs had suffered persecution for a long time before his imprisonment. As the president of the religious freedom watchdog group the Saint Augustine Coordination of Christians in Algeria, he faced continuous harassment and distress. He was sentenced to prison in 2016 for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad and committing blasphemy against Islam. He received a presidential pardon in 2018 and fled to Tunisia as a refugee. 

However, Bouhafs’s enemies did not rest and followed him. Three men in a black vehicle abducted him in broad daylight from his home on the 25th of August, 2021. His whereabouts were unknown for four days. The abductors informed Bouhafs’s family that he had been taken back to Algeria and was held at a police station in Algiers. 

Bouhafs denied the terrorism-related charges. He also revealed details of his abduction, stating that his kidnappers violently shoved a bag over his head and tortured him whilst driving across the border to Algeria. 

Amnesty International condemned the violence against the Christian convert: “Bouhafs had been granted refugee status in Tunisia in 2020. However, this did not protect him from being kidnapped from his home in Tunis and tried on charges of terrorism for his supposed affiliations to a Kabylie independence organization in September 2021, and since held in Kolea prison near Algiers. Not only are the charges against Bouhafs bogus, but his entire trial is illegal under international human rights law.”

According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Algerian government restricts religious freedom and primarily targets Christians: “Algeria has closed nearly all Christian evangelical churches in the country, with only one remaining open as of May 2024. Algerian-born Christians face a maximum five-year prison sentence for ‘sharing their faith’ with others. Christians with a Muslim background, many of whom live in rural areas, often experience social persecution from family members, neighbours, and local ethnic or religious leaders. Relatives sometimes prevent female converts, in particular, from watching television or listening to the radio to restrict them from exposure to Christian broadcasts. Converts also face domestic violence or even death in some isolated areas if they discuss religion or reveal their beliefs. In 2024, as in years past, significant numbers of Christians met secretly to worship in the Berber regions, including Kabylia on the Mediterranean coast. Christian Sub-Saharan Africans who have moved to Algeria belong to various churches, including Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, and Coptic Orthodox. Muslim elders in small towns and villages actively criticize the presence of any churches or visible Christian symbols, in effect using authority to control family behaviour.”

Algeria is currently on the State Department’s Special Watch List for religious freedom violations, such as using blasphemy laws to prosecute religious minority communities, restricting and monitoring their activities and preventing them from publicly discussing their faith.

Source: https://www.persecution.org