2 months for smoking in Ramadan

2008-11-19 14:12

Algiers - Algeria's highest court on Tuesday upheld convictions for three men caught smoking cigarettes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan but reduced their prison terms, a defence lawyer and a rights group said.

The Algiers appeals court, the North African country's top jurisdiction, cut the sentences from three years to two months for "offending religion," the group and the lawyer said.

The men - all construction workers in an upscale Algiers neighbourhood - were caught by police smoking cigarettes on a street September 21, and have been detained since. The lawyer said they would likely be released this week.

No law in Algeria explicitly bars people from eating, drinking, smoking or otherwise breaking the daytime fast during Islam's holy month, which this year fell in September. Justice Ministry officials declined to comment on the case.

But Algerian secularists worry authorities are placating Islamists by increasingly enforcing religious rules.

They point to several examples including the arrest of a dozen people caught smoking during Ramadan in the southern town of Biskra, and the closing-down of several bars serving alcohol in the capital, Algiers.

Some of those arrested in Biskra were convicted but the decision was overturned on appeal. Algeria's religious minister said at the time that the judiciary had no business prosecuting people for not following the fast.

Most such arrests or prohibitions are carried out under a 2001 law that punishes anybody who "offends" the Prophet Muhammad or "denigrates the dogmas or precepts of Islam". The law was also recently used to prosecute Muslims who converted to Christianity, sparking international criticism.

"These witch hunts are dictated by extra-judiciary considerations and constitute an intolerable breach of freedom of conscience," said a statement by SOS-Libertes, an Algerian rights group.

Lawyer Mohammed Idir, who defended a fourth man whom the appeals court ordered released, said the court's ruling was based on the fact those convicted were openly caught smoking. He said his client wasn't on the street.

"I believe the court's verdict stemmed from the public nature of their offense," Idir said.

Algeria is particularly sensitive to religious freedoms because its army-backed government has spent the past 16 years fighting Islamic insurgents, with mixed success. The violence, which peaked in the mid-1990s, has claimed an estimated 200 000 lives.

Military sweeps have beaten the insurgents back into hideouts in the mountains and woods. The insurgents have countered by allying with al-Qaeda and adopting the terror group's tactics of suicide attack and bombings.

Some secularists say the government's 2005 peace plan - involving an amnesty program - has backfired and is now letting Islamic radicals make a comeback in society.

- AP