The Algerian Council of State repealed yesterday afternoon the decision to expel the protestant Rev. Hugh Johnson from Algeria. It was announced by the Rev. to the French Protestant Federation, which followed very closely the matter and that is relaying the news from its website today. Rev. Johnson, 74 years old, had been invited on 25th February to leave the country. He had been living in Algeria for over 45 years. Last year, his residence permit had not been renewed by the authorities. The decision to expel him was taken when the Protestant Church of Algeria of which Rev. Johnson is a member became the focus of a fierce controversy between Muslim and Christian leaders accused of wanting to spread Christianity in Algeria. A controversy that escalated until in late January a court of Orano condemned the French Catholic priest Pierre Wallez to one year’s imprisonment for breaching the law that forbids practising non-Muslim religions outside authorised places. A position about the Protestant Rev. had also been taken by the Catholic bishops of Algeria, who had interceded for him with the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Algeria, with a letter asking them to repeal such expulsion. (continued)
