(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 It has withdrawn the annulment of the man’s provisional admission.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 […]
(AFP) Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, convicted on appeal of rape and sexual coercion by a Geneva court, is a Swiss intellectual accused of masking violence and radicalism behind a mild facade. Ramadan, 62, is the grandson of the founder of the Islamist […]
(BBC) A Swiss appeals court has convicted the prominent scholar of Islam Tariq Ramadan of rape, overturning a previous acquittal dating back to 2023. Swiss broadcaster RTS reported that, at the end of August, the court ruled Ramadan must serve a three-year […]
(AFP) Swiss police are investigating an 11-year-old boy believed to have been radicalised by Islamic extremists — the youngest person ever to be involved in such a case in Switzerland, media reported Friday. Swiss broadcasters RTS and SRF reported that police in […]
(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 […]
(CNN) Nearly two-thirds of ISIS-linked arrests in Europe in the last nine months have been of teenagers, according to a landmark academic study, as concern grows among European security officials ahead of the Paris Olympics of the growing potency and reach in […]
(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 […]
(AFP) Italian police said Wednesday they had disrupted a Turkish criminal operation “with terrorist purposes,” arresting 19 individuals including a major boss associated with recent attacks in Turkey. Hundreds of police carried out the arrests in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Turkey, police […]
(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 […]
(Neue Zürcher Zeitung) Last November, in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel, the Swiss federal police’s Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) issued a warning to Swiss financial intermediaries including banks, insurance companies, asset managers and payment service providers. The warning […]
(AFP) The head of a Swiss private intelligence company is being investigated for spying on European business, political and media figures and at the behest of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), sources close to the case told AFP Monday. Three separate probes, […]
(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 […]
(Reuters) The number of antisemitic incidents in Switzerland has leapt since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel and the Israeli government’s subsequent response against the Islamist group in Gaza, according to a report published on Tuesday. The study by the […]
(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 […]
(AP) Swiss police say the 15-year-old suspect in the stabbing of an Orthodox Jewish man in Zurich over the weekend had appeared in a video expressing solidarity with the banned Islamic State group, and called himself a “soldier” in its self-described caliphate. […]
(Reuters) Police have stepped up security measures at Jewish sites in Zurich following a serious knife attack on an orthodox Jewish man in the Swiss city overnight, local police said on Sunday. Police said they had taken action after a 15-year-old Swiss […]
(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 […]
(Middle East Eye) Border authorities in Switzerland have stopped the director of a UK-based human rights group from entering the country to address a meeting at the United Nations office in Geneva “after a request from France.” Posting on social media on […]
(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 […]
(Algemeiner) The Swiss authorities are debating whether to ban pro-Hamas demonstrations after thousands of protesters took to the streets of Zurich and Geneva over the weekend to rally against Israel. Around 2,000 people assembled in Geneva, brandishing Palestinian flags and calling 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 […]
(AFP) Switzerland said Wednesday that it should now classify Hamas as a terrorist organisation and was examining its options for doing so, following the group’s “shocking attacks” on Israeli civilians. The government’s Middle East Task Force, set up in the wake of […]
(Bloomberg) Swiss lawmakers have called on the government to label Hamas a terrorist organization as the traditionally neutral country reconsiders its Middle East policy. So far, Switzerland — unlike other European countries — has not given the Palestinian group such a classification. […]
(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 […]
Thank you for reading Eye on Islamism.