(Swiss Info) The House of Representatives has approved new anti-terrorism legislation aimed at preventing extremist violence. But it didn’t approve preventive detention of potential terror offenders. The Swiss government has proposed new legislation aimed at preventing extremist violence and forcing people deemed […]
(Swiss Info) Parliament has recommended that voters reject a popular initiative calling for a nationwide ban on face-covering headgear. Both chambers agree that it should be left to cantons to decide on the matter. On Wednesday the House of Representatives voted to […]
(Swiss Info) The justice authorities have dropped a legal inquiry against an imam in central Switzerland suspected of making controversial statements about wife-beating. The cantonal prosecutor’s office in Lucerne announced that it could not find evidence supporting allegations raised by the SonntagsZeitung […]
(Reuters) Greece transferred a dozen unaccompanied children from overcrowded migrant camps to Luxembourg on Wednesday, the first of more than 1,000 relocations that are being expedited amid concerns over the impact of coronavirus on vulnerable groups. Another group of 50 children is […]
(AP) An Iraqi citizen suspected of being a “high-ranking” member of the Islamic State group has been indicted for allegedly violating a Swiss ban on extremist groups and accused of plotting attacks in Switzerland and Lebanon, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The Swiss […]
(Swiss Info) Nora Illi, a controversial public figure who co-founded the Swiss Central Islamic Council (SCIS), died on Monday at the age of 35, after a long illness. Perhaps Switzerland’s most widely publicised convert to Islam, Illi often attracted attention for her […]
(Swiss Info) Switzerland’s Supreme Court has overturned the acquittal of two Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) leaders accused of terrorist propaganda. Islamic council president Nicolas Blancho and its spokesman [Qaasim] Illi were accused of broadcasting propaganda videos in support of the […]
(Swiss Info) The United States offered several times to repatriate three Swiss jihadists detained in Syria, an offer that Switzerland refused, the Le Temps newspaper has said. The original proposal dated back to 2018, Le Temps said on Thursday. The Swiss Federal Department […]
(Breitbart) According to a new investigation by Swiss media, a cell of jihadists based in Geneva plotted to bomb cisterns full of oil near the city’s airport in a major terror attack. The plot, which was set to take place last year […]
(Swiss Info) Switzerland’s largest mosque, which has been embroiled in various controversies, is to come under Swiss management. “It is time to hand over the mosque in Geneva to a Swiss executive board, which is representative, with an elected president board: a […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss authorities have revoked the citizenship of a French-Swiss [woman] for her suspected links to the Islamic State militant group. In an information published in the Federal Gazette on December 31, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) said the […]
(Swiss Info) A French-Tunisian citizen who used to work as a security guard at Geneva’s main mosque has been banned from Switzerland for ten years due to his alleged links to religious fundamentalists, a Swiss court ruled on Friday, confirming an earlier […]
(Swiss Info) Three Swiss nationals who fought for Islamic State and are currently in custody in northern Syria deplore the harsh conditions in Kurdish prisons and want the Swiss government to repatriate them. The jihadists, who all come from the French-speaking part […]
(Swiss Info) Swiss parliamentarians have supported a plan to oblige people to show their faces during identity checks and visits to social security authorities. The proposal is aimed at countering an outright ban on wearing a burka in public. The House of Representatives on […]
(Swiss Info) A Swiss woman who accused the Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan of rape in 2018 has now launched a new legal case against him, this time for slander. The case centres around Ramadan’s book “Devoir de verité” (“The Responsibility of Truth”), […]
(Swiss Info) Switzerland-based Muslim preacher Abu Ramadan is under investigation for allegedly committing welfare fraud. He has also been investigated over hate speech. The public prosecutor in Bern opened a criminal investigation in early 2019 after the 66-year-old preacher was denounced by […]
(Swiss Info) A decade ago, a majority of Swiss voters backed a people’s initiative banning the building of minarets in the country. What has changed since? The people’s initiative was accepted by 57.5% of Swiss voters, even though most politicians, church leaders […]
(Swiss Info) A Geneva court has amended a controversial local secularism law. A ban on wearing or showing religious symbols will still apply to government ministers and officials in contact with the public but not to locally elected politicians. In February, an […]
(Swiss Info) A man is in deportation custody following his arrest at the federal asylum centre in Kreuzlingen in northern Switzerland. He was initially suspected of being a member of a terrorist organization. Having consulted with the Office of the Attorney General […]
(Swiss Info) Around 130 imams are active in Switzerland, mostly Sunnis, and many of whom receive their religious training abroad in the Balkans, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, an in-depth university study has reported. Research by the Swiss Centre for Islam and […]
(Swiss Info) A large-scale operation across three Swiss regions on Tuesday morning has led to the house searches of 11 people with suspected links to Islamist terrorist groups. The police raids were launched in the cantons of Zurich, Bern, and Schaffhausen, and involved […]
(Swiss Info) Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has filed an indictment with the Federal Criminal Court against two men accused of supporting and participating in the terror organisation “Islamic State” (IS). According to the indictment, the principal accused, a Swiss-Italian dual citizen domiciled […]
(Swiss Info) Moves are underway to strip a Geneva-based woman suspected of supporting militant Islamic organisations of her Swiss nationality. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) launched proceedings against a woman with triple Swiss, French and Tunisian nationality, according to a note in the latest edition of the Federal Gazette. […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has decided to extend the pre-trial detention of a man accused of supporting a criminal group, attempted murder and violating the law banning Islamic State. The man, a citizen of canton Vaud in western Switzerland, […]
(Swiss Info) A Muslim preacher at a mosque near the city of Lucerne has been suspended over controversial statements about wife-beating. An umbrella group representing the local Muslim community told the media on Wednesday that the imam no longer worked at the […]
(Swiss Info) Switzerland’s top court has upheld a decision to not renew the residence permit of an imam from Kosovo guilty of domestic abuse. The Federal Court on Tuesday upheld an earlier decision of the St Gallen court in eastern Switzerland where the man lives. […]
(Swiss Info) The office of the attorney general of Lucerne has opened an investigation into an Iraqi imam at the Dar Asalam mosque in the town of Kriens. The man is alleged to have advised followers to beat their wives if they […]
(Swiss Info) The Federal Court has confirmed a one-month custodial sentence handed down to a 17-year-old boy charged with violating Swiss terror and gun laws. At the end of June, the Geneva prosecutor for minors initiated a criminal probe against the 17-year-old […]
(Local) If you are in or around Geneva this week, you will likely spot soldiers and armoured cars on the streets or near the Cointrin airport. Here’s why. While the presence of nearly 1,500 soldiers, dozens of police officers, as well as […]
(Swiss Info) Swiss parliamentarians have rejected a right-wing call for an outright ban on the wearing of face coverings, such as burkas, in public. The text rejected on Thursday by the Senate is a people’s initiative aiming to completely ban face coverings — […]
(Swiss Info) The number of Turkish refugees in Switzerland has risen by around 130% since a failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan three years ago, according to the NZZ am Sonntag. The newspaper, quoting information from the State Secretariat for […]
(Reuters) Switzerland has revoked the citizenship of a man convicted of helping recruit jihadist fighters, invoking a law allowing dual nationals to be stripped of their Swiss passports for conduct detrimental to national interests or reputation. Though the Swiss federal immigration office […]
(Le News) Earlier this year, Sabine Tiguemounine, a parliamentarian from the Green Party, made news when she decided to sit in an area of Geneva’s parliament building open to the public, rather than in the main area where parliamentary members normally sit. […]
(Swiss Info) The Federal Parliament building in Bern is to be better protected against potential terrorist attacks by erecting bollards on the northern side. A dozen stone bollards will be erected on the sidewalk opposite the parliament square that hosts a twice-weekly […]
(Local) In a surprise move, the Swiss government on Wednesday outlined draft measures that include a travel ban for people permitted to stay in Switzerland on a temporary basis after having their bid for asylum rejected. Under the draft law, the around […]
(Swiss Info) The Geneva native turned Islamic State fighter was captured by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the eastern Syrian town of Al-Baghuz. Several Swiss newspapers on Sunday reported that the 24-year-old Daniel D. was seized last month. The Swiss […]
(Swiss Info) Judges at the Swiss Federal Court have thrown out an appeal by an imam convicted of inciting hate and violence, who worked at a Winterthur mosque. The man was convicted by a Zurich district court in 2017 and given a suspended […]
(Swiss Info) A Bern politician looks set to test Switzerland’s decade-long ban on the construction of minarets by objecting to a dome that is planned for a religious community building in the Swiss capital. The local parliamentarian of the rightwing People’s Party […]
(Swiss Info) A new survey has found that about 40% of the 130 known Islamist militants in Switzerland receive welfare payments, including unemployment and disability benefits. Most of them are young men, living in suburban areas notably in the French-speaking part of the country, […]
(Reuters) The Swiss government on Wednesday proposed new laws aimed at preventing extremist violence and forcing people including children deemed a threat to be registered with authorities, with house arrest a last resort in some cases. The measures, due now to be […]
(Swiss Info) An appeal to suspend a provision of a Geneva law that reinforces the separation of religion and state has failed. In February, the secularism law was accepted by over 55% of voters in canton Geneva. Among the provisions covered by […]
(Local) The latest Swiss Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) annual report provides an insight into Switzerland’s jihadists. Here’s what it tells us about them including where they are from and how many are Swiss. The report looks at jihad-related police investigations and […]
(Swiss Info) Qatar-funded projects in Switzerland, including a building complex costing CHF22 million ($21.5 million), have been stopped. The decision comes amid controversial revelations of the “Qatar Papers,” a book published by French journalists. The founder of the Swiss Muslim Cultural Institute […]
(Local) An online job listing seeking a “Swiss” driver has caused outrage among members of Switzerland’s migrant community. An online job ad for Schärer Transport AG, a logistics company based in the canton of St Gallen, has been called out for discrimination […]
(IPT) Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna, received €35,000 — roughly $39,290 — per month from the Qatar Foundation as a “consultant,” documents obtained by French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot show, the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Genve […]
(National-UAE) Details of the lavish payments made by Qatar to Muslim Brotherhood organisations in Europe, including furnishing funds the academic Tariq Ramadan has used for legal fees to fight rape allegations, have emerged in a new book. Qatar Papers — How the […]
(Swiss Info) A Swiss parliamentary decision seeking automatic deportation of convicted terrorists even if their lives are at risk has met widespread criticism. The human rights organisation Amnesty International described Tuesday’s decision to ignore international safeguards and practices as unacceptable. “It will […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss government has presented its plans for a legal amendment to prevent a nationwide ban on face-covering headgear, proposed by a rightwing people’s initiative. Under the proposal, a person must show his or her face for identity checks by […]
(Local) In an early test for Geneva’s controversial new secularism law, a Muslim councillor on Tuesday chose to sit in the public gallery during a recent council meeting rather than obey the new legislation by removing her headscarf so that she could […]
(Local) The Swiss justice minister on Monday confirmed that the country was looking at revoking the passport of a Swiss citizen who fought for the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). Speaking in the lower house of the Swiss parliament, Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter […]
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