The Algerian government is launching a campaign against illegal emigration to Europe. The London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat is reporting that the government, along with muftis (deliverers of religious decrees) announced it was forbidden based upon religious precept to use the "death boats" in order to illegally immigrate into Europe.
The phenomenon of using fishing boats is well-known, and very dangerous. Each year thousands of Africans, from Algeria and other countries, try to sail their way to a better future. Many drown along the way.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs asked preachers of all 14,000 mosques spread around Algeria to explain to worshipers the dangers of using the boats. The clerics are now preparing a religious decree which forbids any kind of connection with illegal immigration networks, Sheikh Abu ‘Abd A-Salam, a member of the National Committee on Religious Decrees, told A-Sharq Al-Awsat.
"We regard these youngsters, the immigrants, as sinners… because they exposed themselves to danger and many of them died," ‘Abd A-Salam said.