The Algerian Government has convicted a Catholic priest of proselytism in the first case brought under a law passed two years ago to punish anyone inciting a Muslim to convert, writes Tom Heneghan.

The move has alarmed church officials in Algeria, who say it is part of a wider crackdown including refusals of visa applications and other kinds of harassment.

Fr Pierre Wallez, who has worked in Algeria for 35 years, received a one-year suspended jail sentence on charges of celebrating Mass in an unauthorised place. Bishop Alphonse Georger of Oran in western Algeria said that Fr Wallez had prayed only with Christian migrants from Cameroon when he visited them in an area near the Moroccan border. Fr Wallez has been visiting the migrants - most of whom aim to cross over into Europe - for the past nine years with the full knowledge of the local police, Bishop Georger said.

An Algerian doctor working with Fr Wallez, Fethi Cherigui, who is not a Catholic, was sent to jail for two years on charges of stealing medical supplies from hospitals. Bishop Georger said the supplies were paid for by Caritas.

In reaction to increased missionary work by evangelical Christians, the Algerian parliament passed a law in March 2006 that banned proselytising and restricted non-Muslim religious services to approved buildings. Punishments range up to five years in prison and stiff fines. Catholic sources have reported rising harassment in recent months from Algerian officials (The Tablet, 28 July 2007). "They reject entrance visas for our delegates systematically," the Archbishop of Algiers, Henri Teissier, told the Italian bishops' conference daily Avvenire. "In November, they withdrew residence permits for four young Brazilian priests working with Portuguese-speaking African immigrants."

Protestant leaders also report increased pressure on their churches, which are mostly in Kabylie in north-eastern Algeria. Protestant church sources say four Christians were sentenced there to five years in prison for "blasphemy" against Muhammad.