Religion in Algeria
Those measures, however, did not satisfy everyone. As early as 1964, a militant Islamic movement, called Al Qiyam (values), emerged and became the precursor of the Islamic Salvation Front of the 1990s. Al Qiyam called for a more dominant role for Islam in Algeria's legal and political systems and opposed what it saw as Western practices in the social and cultural life of Algerians.This proved to be the most difficult challenge for the immediate post-independent regimes as they tried to incorporate an Islamic national identity alongside socialist policies. Whereas the new leaders of Algeria saw Islam and Socialism as both compatible and features of Algerian culture and society; radical Islamists saw Islam as the only defining characteristic and in fact incompatible.
Blasphemy law in Algeria
In February 2008, authorities arrested Christian converts Yousef Ourahmane, Rachid Seghir (or Esseghir), and Hamid Ramdani for blasphemy and for uttering threats against a man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity to Islam. At the trial, which began on 21 October 2008, the prosecutor asked the court for three years imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 dinars for each man. The court acquitted the men on 29 October because the prosecution did not prove that the men had committed a crime.