(Swiss Info) Does it harm Switzerland’s good offices if it bans Palestinian militant group Hamas? Parliament has been debating this for years. Now the arguments in favour of a ban have won. Until now, Switzerland has deliberately exercised restraint in banning terrorist […]
(Swiss Info) Hamas will become a banned group in Switzerland for five years. After the Senate, the House of Representatives accepted a government proposal drawn up after the attack by the Islamist group on October 7, 2023. The House of Representatives accepted […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss government has rejected demands from two parliamentary security policy commissions to ban Hezbollah. The group does not meet the same conditions as Hamas, the Federal Council says. Hezbollah should be put on the same footing as Hamas, according […]
(Swiss Info) From January 1, 2025, it will be forbidden to cover the face in public places throughout Switzerland. Violations can be punished with a fine of up to CHF1,000 (about $1,143). On Wednesday, the Swiss government decided to put the new […]
(Swiss Info) Ten inmates at the Realta correctional centre in Cazis, in canton Graubünden, have filed complaints against unidentified parties and the prison management after discovering that meat was falsely labelled. At least one of the inmates worked in the prison’s own […]
(Swiss Info) A Kurdish supporter of the Islamist terrorist network al-Qaeda can stay in Switzerland, the Federal Administrative Court has ruled. It has withdrawn the annulment of the man’s provisional admission. The man, who is originally from Iraq, came to Switzerland in […]
(Swiss Info) Compensation and damages of CHF95,000 for the victims of Tariq Ramadan will not be postponed by the Islamic scholar’s appeal against his rape conviction. Tariq Ramadan justified the request for suspensive effect for satisfaction and compensation on the grounds that […]
(Swiss Info) A Swiss parliamentary committee has voted in favour of banning both Hamas and Lebanon’s militia Hezbollah in Switzerland. The Security Policy Committee of the Swiss House of Representatives, along with its counterpart in the Senate, voted 20 to 2, with […]
(Swiss Info) A Senate committee in Switzerland wants to ban Lebanon’s militia Hezbollah. The committee tabled a motion to that end with 10 votes in favor and three abstentions, parliamentary services reported on Friday. The Senate’s security policy committee believes the situation […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss government has submitted to parliament its proposal to ban Palestinian militant group Hamas from Switzerland for five years. The ban also covers organisations affiliated with the Islamist group. The proposal includes Hamas cover organisations, those emanating from Hamas, […]
(Swiss Info) Terrorists are becoming younger. This trend can also be seen in Switzerland, says expert Peter Neumann. He describes a new type of self-radicalised young attacker, which he calls TikTok terrorists. For a book that will be published in September, the […]
(Swiss Info) The terrorist threat in Switzerland has increased since the beginning of the year, warned Christian Dussey, director of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS). He points to a campaign launched by the Islamic State calling for attacks in Europe. The […]
(Swiss Info) The trial of two parents accused of financially supporting their son who left Switzerland to fight for Islamic State (IS) in Syria in 2015 opened at the Federal Criminal Court on Monday. The court has decided to move forward with […]
(Swiss Info) A 51-year-old Algerian man has been charged by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office for involvement in the banned terrorist group Islamic State. He is suspected of having planned an attack in Europe, particularly in France. The Algerian national came to […]
(Swiss Info) The Geneva public prosecutor’s office on Tuesday demanded a three-year prison sentence for Tariq Ramadan, 18 months of which would be mandatory, in an appeal trial. It believes the Islamic scholar is guilty of raping a woman in a hotel […]
(Swiss Info) Swiss political parties have spoken out in favour of the Federal Council’s proposed ban on the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The rightwing Swiss People’s Party felt that the draft law did not go far enough in the consultation procedure. The […]
(Swiss Info) The 61-year-old Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who was acquitted of rape and sexual coercion, will be back before judges in Geneva on Monday. The public prosecutor’s office and the plaintiff had appealed against the court’s decision last year. As the […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss Federal Criminal Court today sentenced two sisters living in the canton of Vaud to suspended prison terms for having travelled, along with a minor son belonging to one of them, to Syria in 2015 to join the Islamic […]
(Swiss Info) Authorities in canton Schaffhausen have released two teenagers who were arrested over Easter in connection to planned bomb attacks in Switzerland. The 15-year-old Swiss and 16-year-old Italian were sent to a closed institution where they will be assessed. The two […]
(Swiss Info) Three teenagers from the northern Swiss cantons of Schaffhausen and Thurgau have been arrested for allegedly planning explosives attacks in the country. They are also suspected of supporting the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organisation. The detainees are a 15-year-old Swiss […]
(Swiss Info) Several European countries, including France and Germany, are on high alert following a deadly terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall. Switzerland is also a potential target from the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) terror group, which has claimed responsibility for […]
(Swiss Info) The 15-year-old who attacked an orthodox Jewish man in Zurich on March 2 became radicalised in Tunisia and on internet forums, Zurich’s security director said on Monday. Investigations are still progressing in earnest, Mario Fehr said at the presentation of […]
(Swiss Info) A Swiss court has fined four people over a banner used during a 2017 protest in Bern against the Turkish government that showed a gun pointed at an image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan next to the words, “Kill […]
(Swiss Info) Three minors with suspected links to jihadist extremism have been arrested in French-speaking Switzerland, according to a Saturday report by Swiss public broadcaster RTS. They are suspected of being active on a social network carrying jihadist content. Two were arrested […]
(Swiss Info) The stabbing of an Orthodox Jewish man comes amid growing concerns about anti-Semitism in Switzerland. Some politicians now want a harsh response. Here’s what’s known about the case so far. The attacker: a teenager in a “global war” Last Saturday […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss government has proposed a five-year ban for the Islamist Palestinian organisation Hamas and affiliated groups after terrorist attacks on Israel. The government submitted a draft bill to this effect for consultation on Wednesday. The Federal Council hopes that […]
(Swiss Info) The man who took over a dozen hostages on a Swiss regional train on Thursday, before being shot dead by police, has been formally identified. But various questions about the event remain open. As initially reported, the man was an […]
(Swiss Info) Swiss police said a 32-year-old Iranian asylum seeker armed with an axe and a knife held 15 hostages on a train between Baulmes and Yverdon-les-Bains in western Switzerland for almost four hours, until police stormed the train and killed the […]
(Swiss Info) Two people, a 59-year-old Swiss-Spanish dual national and a 69-year-old Swiss man, are the subject of an indictment from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). They are accused of having financially supported the Islamic State (IS). The two parents […]
(Swiss Info) The Federal Intelligence Service has no indications of concrete plans for terrorist attacks in Switzerland. However, the FIS still considers the threat of terrorism in Switzerland to be heightened, as it announced in response to an enquiry from the Keystone-SDA […]
(Swiss Info) The House of Representatives has followed the Senate in supporting a government proposal to classify Hamas as a terrorist group. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives tacitly adopted a committee motion calling for the Islamist organisation to be declared a […]
(Swiss Info) Switzerland is moving towards a ban on Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip and carried out a major attack against Israel on Oct. 7. On Tuesday, the Senate tacitly adopted a committee motion calling for the Islamist […]
(Swiss Info) Switzerland is drawing up legislation to ban the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organisation. A law will be proposed to parliament aimed at providing the necessary legal tools to counter any Hamas activities or support for […]
(Swiss Info) The Security Policy Commission of the Senate (SIK-S) is also reacting to the attack on Israel and wants to ban the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas. It has submitted a corresponding motion. The decision was made by 8 votes to 0, […]
(Swiss Info) The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has opened an investigation into suspected Swiss financing of Palestinian militant group Hamas. “The criminal investigation was opened a few weeks ago, shortly before the Hamas attack in Israel,” Attorney General Stefan Blättler […]
(Swiss Info) It will be illegal to conceal one’s face in public in Switzerland. Parliament has accepted the government’s bill implementing the so-called anti-burka initiative at [the] federal level, including a fine of up to CHF1,000 ($1,115) for those who flout the […]
(Swiss Info) Canton St Gallen’s burqa ban has never been implemented since it was introduced five years ago. The public prosecutor’s office has not yet received any complaint, [it] told the Keystone-SDA news agency. In the last five years, no one has […]
(Swiss Info) Winterthur district court has sentenced a 50-year-old Algerian man for attacking two worshippers in the An’Nur mosque. The man received a suspended prison sentence of 12 months and a seven-year ban from Switzerland. The man, who was involved in an […]
(Swiss Info) Authorities in cantons Vaud and Neuchâtel have arrested four individuals suspected of carrying out various support activities for a terrorist group. Four Syrian nationals were arrested on Thursday on suspicion of supporting the Al-Nusra Front terrorism group. Two of the […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan will stand trial at a Paris criminal court for rapes alleged to have taken place between 2009 and 2016, two judges decided on Friday. The judges, however, partially dismissed allegations made by two of the […]
(Swiss Info) The Office of the Attorney General of Geneva has confirmed its appeal against a local court’s decision to clear Tariq Ramadan last month. The renowned Islamic studies scholar had been accused of “rape and sexual coercion” by a Swiss woman. […]
(Swiss Info) With a “Salam aleikum,” teacher Nimetullah Veseli greets the pupils of year four in the Kirchacker school building. Veseli stands in front of the six boys and six girls in the classroom in Neuhausen, Schaffhausen. Wearing jeans and a white […]
(Swiss Info) A 25-year-old man, already convicted in Switzerland for supporting banned Islamic terrorist groups, is now accused of being a recruiter, propagandist and fundraiser for Islamic State and al-Qaeda. The Office for the Attorney General (OAG) announced further charges on Monday […]
(Swiss Info) A concert in Geneva by French rapper Lomepal was cancelled on … the weekend because of an online terror threat. A 40-year-old man was arrested but later released. The man was arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences following the evacuation […]
(Swiss Info) Geneva’s city council has amended its regulations for public sports facilities to allow people to wear burkinis in the city’s swimming pools. The change had been pushed by the political left. In the end, 38 votes were in favour of […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss Centre for Islam and Society at the University of Fribourg completed its first further education course for imams in autumn. Hansjörg Schmid, director of the centre, takes stock of the experience. The 12-month course attracted a great deal […]
(Swiss Info) Mustafa Memeti, the imam of the Muslim Association of Bern and responsible for the mosque in the Swiss capital’s House of Religions, has announced he will stand down at the end of April. Memeti, 62, said in a statement on […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss justice authorities say they have indicted a Turkish national for supporting terrorist groups and depicting prohibited violence. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) accuses the 26-year-old defendant of encouraging a teenager in his support for the ideology of […]
(Swiss Info) Three Swiss terror suspects who went missing in north-eastern Syria in January are being held in detention camps run by Kurdish authorities, the Swiss foreign ministry has confirmed. The three men, reportedly from Geneva, Lausanne and Orbe, went missing following a rescue […]
(Swiss Info) Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan will have to stand trial in the Swiss city of Geneva next year accused of rape and sexual coercion. Justice officials and lawyers of the parties confirmed that the 60-year-old will be tried following four years […]
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