- 1952-01-00 — Khodabakhch Attar-Hamedani, his wife, and four sons were the first to pioneer to Algeria. The first Local Assembly was formed in 1954 and several others were formed after. He served on the National Spiritual Assembly of Algeria and Tunisia and was appointed to the Auxiliary Board until all foreign Bahá'ís were expelled in 1968. [BWIM114]
- 1953-09-09 — Rooho'llah Mavadatt arrived in Algeria as a pioneer.
[BN No277 p8]
- 1953-12-00 — 'Abdu'l-Karím Amín Khawja became a Bahá'í in Algeria, the first person to accept the Faith in that country. [BN No277 p8]
- 1954-04-21 — The first local spiritual assembly in Algeria was formed in Algiers. [BWIM114]
- 1954-11-01 — The members of the Algerian National Liberation Front initiated an armed conflict on French targets to start the Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the War of Independence which lasted until 1962 and lead to the independence of Algeria from France. This decolonization war was marked by guerrilla warfare, war crimes, and civil strife. The conflict ended with the signing of the Évian Accords.
The war had a profound human cost, with estimates of Algerian casualties ranging from 400,000 to 1.5 million, alongside 25,600 French soldiers and 6,000 Europeans. The war also saw the perpetration of war crimes, including massacres, rape, torture, the destruction of villages, and the displacement of over 2 million Algerians. Upon independence, approximately 900,000 European-Algerians fled to France. The FLN targeted the Harkis, Algerian Muslims who served with the French army, for retribution, with many facing brutal violence. About 90,000 Harkis found refuge in France, where they and their descendants form a significant community. [Wikipedia] - 1957-00-00 — The Berbers in Algeria were first contacted by the Bahá'ís and a number of Berber families enrolled.
- 1964-04-21 —
The existing National Spiritual Assembly of North West Africa that had been formed in 1956 was split into two regions, the Spiritual Assembly of West Africa and the "new" North West Africa region with its seat in Tunis included the following countries: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Rio de Oro, Spanish Sahara, Ifni, Madeira, Canary Islands. [BW14p96]
- The seat of the National Spiritual Assembly of North West Africa was transferred from Tunis (1963-1967) to Rabat (1967-1974). [BW14p97]
- 1967-04-21 —
Formerly a part of the National Assembly of North West Africa, the National Spiritual Assembly of Algeria and Tunisia (Sometimes called "North Africa") was formed with its seat in Algiers. [BW14p96; BW14p473]
- It had to be
disbanded owing to unfavorable local circumstances. [BW15p189Notes]
- 1968-11-04 — Following the participation of Algerian Bahá'ís in the first Oceanic Conference in Palermo, Sicily, and subsequent international news coverage, foreign Bahá'ís in Algeria were summoned by the police and interrogated. [BW15:172]
- 1968-11-07 —
- 1969-04-01 —
The Bahá'í Faith was banned in Algeria by official decree, all Bahá'í institutions were disbanded and the National Spiritual Assembly dissolved. [BW15:189; BW19:41]
- Algeria has a long history of repression and persecution of religious minorities. Bahá'í activities have been banned by law in Algeria since this time. The government has made little progress on its 2014 commitment to reopen synagogues that had been converted to mosques or churches. In 2006, Algeria adopted Ordinance 06-03 requiring non-Muslim organizations to register with the National Commission governing worship by non-Muslim groups, housed under the Ministry of Religious Affairs. This commission rarely meets and often fails to respond to registration requests by non-Muslim groups in the time required by the ordinance.
[US Commission on International Freligious Freedom - Annual Report 2021 p57]
- 1983-07-22 — The number of Local Spiritual Assemblies in Africa rose to some 7,200 and localities
where Bahá'ís resided to over 35,000. In Algeria, the
Congo, Egypt, Libya and Niger the Faith
remained banned. [BW19p147]
|
Site Map
