INITIAL ALGERIAN REACTION TO IRFR MOSTLY NEGATIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 001024

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL/IRF WCOFSKY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV OPRC KIRF KPAO AG
SUBJECT: INITIAL ALGERIAN REACTION TO IRFR MOSTLY NEGATIVE

REF: STATE 99226

Classified By: DCM Thomas F. Daughton; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) We delivered the 2008 International Religious Freedom
Country Report (IRFR) on September 23 during a meeting with
MFA North America Deputy Director Rachid Ouali. Ouali gave
no substantive comment on the IRFR, despite numerous critical
official statements in the Algerian press in reaction to the
report. We informed Ouali that we were prepared to discuss
the report's conclusions in greater detail with the ministry.
While local press coverage on September 21-22 of the release
of the 2008 IRFR primarily featured official criticism of the
report's findings, some reporting called into question the
government's record on religious freedom. Algerian officials
from state institutions and government-affiliated religious
organizations publicly rejected as biased the IRFR's
conclusion that respect for religious freedom had declined in
Algeria.


2. (SBU) In a September 21 interview in the Arabic-language
daily Echourouk el-Youmi, Algerian Muslim Scholars
Association President Abdelrahman Chibane stated that the
U.S. should be the last country to give lessons in democracy,
human rights and minority rights, given its record in Iraq
and Afghanistan. Farouk Ksentini, president of the National
Advisory Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights (the government human rights commission),called the
report "unfounded" in comments to the Arabic-language daily
El Bilad. Ksentini added that Algerian society was naturally
tolerant and he attributed the report's critique of the
government's religious freedom record to Algeria's
"mishandling of the Habiba (Kouider) case."


3. (C) The most scathing criticism of the report came from
Minister of Religious Affairs Bouabdellah Ghoulamallah. In
remarks to the press on September 22, Ghoulamallah challenged
the accuracy of the IRFR and asserted that there was no
evidence to substantiate claims that the government had
closed churches or harmed individuals because of their
religious affiliation. He admitted that legal authorities
had confronted "some foreigners" whose conduct violated
Algerian law. Ghoulamallah accused the U.S. of not allowing
Muslim religious workers to enter the U.S. and questioned
whether Algeria should have to tolerate the evangelization of
its nationals, especially since evangelists are "tied up in
sects and even Catholic and Protestant churches have
disassociated themselves from them." Switching to a more
positive tone, Ghoulamallah reiterated that "Christians
residing in Algeria, either as a visitor or Algerian
nationals, can be assured that their freedom of worship is
guaranteed." We told Rachid Ouali at the MFA on September 23
that Ghoulamallah's comments were unhelpful and not
reassuring.


4. (SBU) Other reactions to the report came from opposition
Socialist Forces Front (FFS) Human Rights Secretary Ahmed
Betatache, who told Algerie News on September 21 that
religious freedoms are not the only freedoms that have
declined in Algeria. Betatache said freedom of expression
also suffered and cited the Habiba Kouider case as the best
example of the government's religious freedom transgressions.
In a September 21 article in the French-language daily
Liberte journalist Azzeddine Bensouiah criticized the
government's de facto expulsion of Pastor Hugh Johnson.
PEARCE