(Algiers) A court in Algiers sentenced a renowned Algerian Islamologist, Saïd Djabelkhir, to three years in prison, prosecuted for “insulting the precepts of Islam” and who promised to continue his “fight for the freedom of conscience ” on Thursday.
The 53-year-old researcher, a specialist in Sufism, “was sentenced to three years” in front of the court of Sidi M’hamed, told AFP one of the lawyers, Me Moumen Chadi, “shocked” by the severity of worth it.
“There is no proof. The file is empty. We expected an acquittal, ”said Me Chadi, denouncing a technical flaw.
Questioned on leaving the court, Mr. Djabelkhir, also surprised by the verdict, told AFP that he would appeal and go to the Supreme Court if necessary. However, he was not placed under arrest.
“It is a fight that must continue for freedom of conscience, for freedom of opinion, and for freedom of expression,” he pleaded.
Denounced by a university colleague
“The fight for freedom of conscience is non-negotiable,” insisted Mr. Djabelkhir, a specialist in Sufism, a mystical and esoteric current of Islam. A graduate in Islamic sciences, he is the author of two well-known books dealing with religion.
Prosecuted for “insulting the precepts of Islam” by a university colleague, a computer teacher in Sidi Bel-Abbès (north-west) supported by seven lawyers, he risked up to five years in prison.
He is notably accused of having written on Facebook in January 2020 that the sacrifice of the sheep – Muslim tradition – existed before the advent of Islam. He also claimed that some stories from the Qur’an are not historical facts, but that they are intended to convey moral values.
Algerian law punishes with three to five years of imprisonment and/or a fine “whoever offends the prophet or denigrates the dogma or the precepts of Islam, whether by writing, drawing, declaration or any other means”.
“Criminalization of ideas”
In a press release entitled “The drift of too much”, the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights denounced “the criminalization of ideas, debate and academic research yet guaranteed by the Constitution”.
Amnesty International for its part evoked a “frightening regression for freedom of expression in Algeria”.
It is scandalous that Saïd Djabelkhir is sentenced to three years in prison simply for having expressed his opinion on religious texts.
Amna Guellali, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty
At his trial on the 1st of April, the exegete had denied having “undermined Islam,” state religion in Algeria, ensuring he had only expressed “academic reflections” and that ‘he was accused “by people who have no competence in matters of religion”.
In a recent interview with AFP, he estimated that “a very great effort of new reflection on the founding texts of Islam is necessary because the traditional readings no longer meet the expectations, needs, and questions of modern man.”
The Wahhabis (who claim to be part of a rigorous current of Islam), the Salafists want to impose their reading of texts on Muslims as being the absolute truth and this is what I continue to dispute through my writings.
Said Djabelkhir
Mr. Djabelkhir has already been at the heart of several controversies with clerics with a fundamentalist vision of Islam.
His lawyers argued before the court that the complaint against him was inadmissible because it came from individuals and not from the public prosecutor.
The defense had also warned against “opening a breach” with this trial which would transform the courts into “a space for religious debates”.
“Courts of inquisition”
The Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights also refuses “that the courtrooms replace university amphitheaters” and that “the courts turn into inquisition courts”, according to its vice-president, Saïd Salhi.
Mr. Djabelkhir has garnered the support of many Algerian colleagues and politicians.
Its defenders consider that it is a debate of ideas and that the researcher must be able to give his opinion.
Conversely, his detractors accuse him of having denigrated verses from the Koran and the five pillars of Islam, such as the “hajj”, the pilgrimage to Mecca.
