A judge’s decision this month to indefinitely postpone the appeal of a Christian sentenced under Algeria’s defamation and anti-proselytizing laws shows how the judicial system keeps Christians in limbo without officially punishing or acquitting them, according to sources.

Five Algerian Christians remained jailed in north-eastern Algeria Tuesday after they were reportedly detained this weekend for “worshiping in an unregistered location.”

Another Christian, a minor, was released and placed on probation following Saturday’s raid in a village near the town of Bougous in north-eastern El Tarf province bordering Tunisia.

Convicting a Christian convert for insulting the prophet of Islam, a judge in Algeria last week stunned the Christian community by sentencing him beyond what a prosecutor recommended.

In Oran, 470 kilometers (292 miles) west of Algiers, a criminal court in the city’s Djamel district on Wednesday (May 25) sentenced Siaghi Krimo to a prison term of five years for giving a CD about Christianity to a neighbor who subsequently claimed he had insulted Muhammad. Krimo was also fined 200,000 Algerian dinars (US$2,760), according to Algerian news reports.

Seven Algerian churches face closure this week after the governor of their province sent them written notice that they were operating “illegally.”

According to the governor’s statement, if the churches do not comply, authorities may use force. The leaders of the churches in Bejaia have decided to conduct church services this weekend as scheduled and “see what happens.”

Four Christian men of a small Protestant church in Algeria are appealing a court decision to hand them suspended prison sentences for worshiping without a state permission.

The verdict was the latest in a series of cases targeting converted Christians in the country.

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