Algeria police arrest 12 Christians at House of Refuge worship near Oran

Morning Star News reported on September 14, 2026, that on September 4 special-force police in Algeria raided a worship gathering at the House of Refuge shelter in L’Ayaida, about 36 kilometers east of Oran, and arrested all 12 Christians present on suspicion of holding an unauthorized non-Muslim religious service. Sources unnamed for security reasons told Morning Star News the premises had been under surveillance, that officers arrived with a search warrant, and that those detained were taken to the Bethioua police station. Police seized Christian literature, mobile phones, and identity cards, the same account said. Women were released and questioned the next morning; men were held into the night, some until about 3 a.m. Christian Daily International carried the same Morning Star News dispatch. This brief attributes those facts to Morning Star News. It is not an independent confirmation.

Christians fear the 12 could be charged under Ordinance 06-03, Algeria’s 2006 law on non-Muslim worship, Morning Star News reported. That statute, as the outlet described it, criminalizes collective worship outside the officially approved framework and any action deemed to “shake the faith of a Muslim,” with penalties of two to five years in prison and fines of 500,000 to 1 million Algerian dinars. Non-Muslim worship buildings must be licensed; Morning Star News said applications have gone unanswered. The 12 had not yet been brought before a prosecutor. This brief records a fear of charges, not convictions.

Open Doors ranked Algeria 20th on its 2026 World Watch List of countries where it is hardest to be a Christian, Morning Star News said. A worship hall on the House of Refuge site was ordered closed in October 2019; Christians have continued to meet in an apartment there, the same report said. Pastor Youcef Ourahmane, founder of the L’Ayeida refuge center and vice-president of the Protestant Church of Algeria, was sentenced on appeal in May 2024 to one year in prison for organizing a spiritual retreat — prior context in the Morning Star News account, not a charge in this raid.