TWO Algerian men face up to two years in jail after they were arrested for allegedly eating in the middle of the day during the holy month of Ramadan.
Police picked up the young men in a restaurant in the Bejaya province, east of the capital Algiers, after neighbours complained of the alleged public desecration of the Islamic faith’s ban on eating during daylight in the holy month, The Jerusalem Post reported yesterday.
The young men face up to two years in prison if convicted. Charges were presented against the group on Monday but the court delayed its verdict until early November.
Human rights groups have decried the move, saying the men had not committed any crime and that observing the daylight fast during Ramadan was a “personal matter”.
Mouloud Benkadoum, a lawyer representing the owner of the restaurant, said his client had not violated any laws.
“The police entered an establishment where the curtain was closed,” he told the French language Algerian Al-Watan newspaper. “My client didn’t serve anyone food. He was cleaning his restaurant and the cooking equipment in preparation for opening in the evening.”
There is no law in Algeria prohibiting eating on Ramadan, only one banning “mocking Ramadan”, said Moustafa Bouchachi, President of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights. “The prosecutor has implemented the law improperly, and therefore the last man still arrested in the case was released yesterday.”
Mr Bouchachi said Algerian police had arrested four young men on similar charges two years ago but that the men were subsequently released. He added that people are sometimes arrested for eating in public places, but rarely for doing so in a closed restaurant.
“We believe that this lawsuit is unfounded,” Mr Bouchachi said. “The Algerian constitution prescribes freedom of religion, so we think this is an affront to people’s basic right, which we condemn.”
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