Religious Leaders in Algeria Are Demanding the Punishment of the Murtaddeen

On the daily Aafaq website a dispatch from Algiers dated 24 April, with this headline:
Religious Leaders in Algeria Are Demanding the Punishment of the Murtaddeen

An Algerian policeman and his daughter have made a public confession that they have embraced Christianity, and that he had divorced his wife because she refused to convert with them. His announcement has precipitated a tremendous amount of discussions and arguments in Algeria, causing the religious authorities to demand that the police department should dismiss him from his position since he should be considered as a Murtadd.

The policemen declared to the Algerian newspaper al-Nahar that his previous life as a Muslim was filled with anxieties and the absence of peace of mind. He added that the radical Islamist movements that have massacred women and children, caused him to become fearful of Islam which he considered responsible for the killings. His life was caught up in a deep struggle that eventually led him to embrace Christianity, which according to him, has given me peace of mind.

As to the daughter of the policeman, she declared that the reason she embraced Christianity was due to her feeling that Islam dealt with women as mere servants or concubines, to be sexually exploited by men. Muslim men regard a woman only from a physical point of view, while by embracing Christianity she began to feel that she had become a dignified human being. She looks at her decision as final, and does not regret it at all.

As to the religious authorities, their reaction was swift declaring that to commit Irtidad on Islam is Kufr, and should be punished by capital punishment, unless they repent and return to Islam.

It is estimated that there are around 10,000 Christians most of them live in the Kabyle district of Tizi Ouzou. Some unofficial sources claim that the number of Christians in Algeria is more than 100,000; they are to be found all over the country, especially in the west of Algeria around Oran and Mostaganem, most of the converts are young men and women. They declared that the reason that prompted them to embrace Christianity was that Islam is responsible for the killings, terror, and rape, as perpetrated by the Islamist groups which had declared in 1992 their Jihad against civilians in order to get closer to Allah!