<p>ALGIERS, Algeria — An Algerian court on Thursday convicted a high-profile university professor specializing in Islam of offending the Muslim religion, and sentenced him to three years in prison.</p>
<p>Said Djabelkhir was not immediately jailed and said he would appeal, according to a group of lawyers defending dozens of detained members of Algeria’s pro-democracy movement.</p>
<p>“I am a professor and not an imam,” using “reason and critical thought,” he was quoted in the press as saying as he left the courtroom.</p>
<p>Another university professor, joined by a group of lawyers, had filed suit against Djabelkhir for Facebook posts they deemed offensive to Islam. </p>
<p>Before his conviction, Djabelkhir told the French daily Le Figaro that it is “the first time in the history of Algeria that a university professor is (being tried) for giving his opinion in his own domain of specialization." </p>
<p>Djabelkhir said he makes the distinction between history and myth in religious writing, but his detractors contend that “everything in the Quran is history, with a capital H.”</p>
<p>The Algiers office of Amnesty International spoke of a “scandalous” ruling.</p>
<p>“To punish someone for his analysis of religious doctrine is a flagrant violation of freedom of expression and religious liberty,” even if the comments are offensive to others, Amnesty said. </p>
<p>The conviction appeared to be a message that defending Islam is also a judicial matter in Algeria.</p>
<p>Some politicians, university teachers and journalists had expressed solidarity with the professor ahead of his trial, denouncing a “return of the Inquisition.”</p>
<p>Djabelkhir, widely followed on social media, is known for putting into question some dogmas of Islam. He also opposes the head covering warn by many Muslims, saying that it is not a religious obligation and “nowhere affirmed (as such) in the Quran or the Sunna” — references to the Muslim holy book and tradition and practices of the prophet of Islam.</p>
