Algerian Appeals Court Upholds Conviction For Smoking During Ramadan

In Algeria, an appeals court yesterday upheld the convictions of three men for smoking cigarettes on the street during the Ramadan daylight fasting period this past September. However their sentences for offending religion were reduced from 3 month to 2 months in jail, and they are likely to be released this week. The court reversed the conviction of a fourth defendant who was smoking in private. AP reports that the men-- all of whom were construction workers-- were caught in an upscale Algiers neighborhood. Apparently they were charged under a 2001 law that punishes "denigrating the dogmas or precepts if Islam." Algerian secularists are concerned about growing government enforcement of religious rules.