Algerian politicians accuse government of politicizing mosques

The recent statement issued by Algeria’s Ministry of Religious affairs to urge the citizens to participate in the parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on May 4 raised a state of controversy, as a number of politicians described the clerics’ involvement in the political process as a violation against the Algerian constitution, while others said that the statement comes in the framework of the role that should be performed by the Algerian government.

Algerian opponents accused the Algerian government of attempting to use the mosques to achieve political interests at the expense of citizens. Chairperson of independent National Council of Preachers Jamal Ghoul stressed his refusal to the use of mosques in politics, saying that the use of Friday’s Sermons to urge citizens to vote during the coming elections is considered an attempt to politicize the religious platforms.

Leading member of National Construction Movement Fareed Habaz expressed his resentment over the orders issued by Religious Affairs Ministry, describing them as an attempt to politicize the mosques. He revealed a number of preachers did not respond to the governmental orders in this regard.

On his hand, Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs Mohamed Eissa commented on the accusations of attempting to politicize mosques, saying that the decision taken by his ministry came upon an initiative from the preachers. He praised the role performed by the Algerian preachers to support the Algerian citizens for performing their national role through participating in the coming elections.

Algerian authorities gave orders to the different governmental sectors to prepare for an intellectual war against extremism to prevent the promotion of extrremist ideas among the Algerian young people in the community. The step comes in coincidence with the efforts exerted by the security authorities to confront the terrorist attempts to destabilize the country. 

A number of Algerian ministries drafted plans to combat extremism in Algeria, including Ministry of Education that works to review curricula in cooperation with Ministry of Religious Affairs. The Algerian government turned to impose serious supervision on private schools to prevent them from promoting extremist ideas.

The government also issued its orders to the Ministry of Labour to provide job opportunities to fresh graduates to protect them from the attempts to polarize them in the light of increasing activities adopted by extremist networks working to recruit the young people in the extremist groups.

According to local media, electronic units related to the Algerian government managed to discover over 20 cells related to ISIS. The governmental units pursued the extremist pages on social media to monitor the ways adopted by the extremists to attract the young people for joining them.