(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 […]
(Swiss Info) The Swiss government has rejected calls to actively repatriate Islamic militants with Swiss nationality from Syria or Iraq. Swiss citizens will not be prevented from returning to the country, according to a government statement published on Friday, but authorities want […]
(Local) A Zurich appeals court has upheld a fine for a Muslim man who chose not to send his three sons to a rehearsal for a Christmas concert. In its ruling, the court stated that the children’s obligatory attendance at the rehearsal […]
(Reuters) A ban on female genital mutilation extends to cases where the ritual cutting was performed in another country prior to the perpetrator coming to Switzerland, the nation’s highest court said on Friday, upholding a Somali woman’s conviction last year. The woman, […]
(Local) One of the key figures behind a successful campaign to have burqas banned in the Swiss canton of Ticino now wants Muslims banned from praying in public. The move by political maverick Giorgio Ghiringhelli comes in the wake of a number […]
(AFP) Geneva residents on Sunday voted for a controversial new “secularism law,” which will among other things ban elected officials and public employees from wearing visible religious symbols. More than 55 percent of voters in the Swiss canton backed the law, final […]
(Swiss Info) The office of the attorney general of Switzerland has filed an appeal against the acquittal of two leaders of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) who had been accused of terrorist propaganda. A third defendant has appealed against his […]
(Swiss Info) The government has presented plans to spend up to CHF500,000 ($503,000) annually to protect minority groups in Switzerland against militant extremism and terrorist attacks. The proposal foresees financial contributions for additional building measures, including walls, security gates and video and […]
(Local) Police in the Swiss city of Schaffhausen have defended their decision to fine a man who used the words “Allahu akbar” in public. The incident in May 2018, which saw the man fined 150 Swiss francs (€132) plus 60 francs in […]
(Swiss Info) Some consumers in Switzerland and abroad have been questioning the halal label on Toblerone chocolate bars. Although certified as halal in April, it was only this week that a small storm began brewing on social media — with some people […]
(Swiss Info) Zurich cantonal court has upheld the conviction handed down one year ago to a Muslim preacher who worked at a Winterthur mosque, accused of spreading hate and inciting violence. The Ethiopian faces a suspended sentence and deportation. The Zurich court […]
(National-UAE) A devastating new report summarising Swiss investigations into Tariq Ramadan sets out a series of alleged sexual assaults and contacts with underage girls. The Oxford professor was arrested in France in February on charges of sexual assault, and has since faced […]
(Al-Arabiya) A confidential report has been disclosed by a French-speaking Swiss private radio confirming sexual abuse allegations against Islamic Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan. Ramadan was barely out of prison on bail in France, where he faces rape charges, when he was caught […]
(Breitbart) German author and undercover journalist Shams Ul-Haq claims to have visited hundreds of mosques across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and says that one in ten mosques there preaches radical Islamic ideas. Mr Ul-Haq, who is originally from Pakistan, said that the […]
(AFP) Switzerland’s government on Wednesday backtracked from its pledge to support a United Nations migration pact after lawmakers insisted they have the final say on the matter. The United States, several European countries along with Israel and Australia have already said they […]
(Local) The number of requests for asylum in Switzerland was down nearly a fifth in the first nine months of 2018 and at its lowest level since 2010. A total of 11,484 people requested asylum in the country from January to June, […]
(Local) A Swiss court has handed eight men suspended sentences of up to 18 months for their role in a 2016 attack in which two worshippers at a controversial mosque in Winterthur were beaten, locked up and threatened with death over suspicions […]
(Swiss Info) Canton Ticino must make more exceptions to its ban on wearing face-covering headgear in public places, the Federal Court has ruled. This ruling came in response to two appeals against the controversial Ticino ban, which was voted in 2013. In […]
(Swiss Info) Businessman and activist Rachid Nekkaz has said he will pay the fines that burka-wearing Muslims in St Gallen incur for breaking the canton’s recent ban on facial coverings in public. Nekkaz arrived in St Gallen’s capital city of the same name on Wednesday, […]
(AFP) A second Swiss canton will introduce a regional “burqa ban,” after voters in St. Gallen on Sunday emphatically backed prohibiting all face-covering garments in public spaces. At the same time, voters across Switzerland resoundingly rejected initiatives aimed at boosting local farming […]
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