Jihadi videos on YouTube anger Swiss attorney-general
Naim Cherni, right, maintained his innocence before the media in December
Keystone
Documentary or propaganda? The Swiss attorney-general’s office says it is “irritated” over YouTube’s reluctance to take down two videos about jihadists in Syria produced by a member of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland.
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The attorney-general opened criminal proceedings against the group’s leader, Naim Cherni, in December 2015 and asked Google, which owns YouTube, to remove the videos from the internet. YouTube evaluated both videos after the attorney-general intervened.
According to YouTube’s guidelines, terrorist propaganda is forbidden but documentary coverage of issues is not.
The attorney-general’s office is not happy about this decision.
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Islamic group ‘shocked’ at charges against leader
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ICC Secretary General Ferah Ulucay told the media on Monday that the film made by the group’s leader, Naim Cherni, was meant to give a voice to critics of groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda. The Swiss authorities were forced to act late of Monday to have the film removed from YouTube…
“When a provider, after the opening of criminal proceedings investigating support of a terrorist organisation, says there’s no need to act, that’s more than a little irritating,” said André Marty, head of information for the attorney-general’s office, in an interview on Tuesday with Swiss public radio, SRF.
The attorney-general has accused the man of producing propaganda with a video recording his trip through embattled Syrian territory and an interview with a Jihadist leaderExternal link. The Bern resident, who has a German passport, travelled through Syria in autumn 2015, and claimed in a press conference on December 23 that his goal was to document “why the rebels, out of an Islamic perspective and deep belief in Islam, are fighting against the Islamic State.”
The attorney-general’s office, however, believes that in this case, the interests of law enforcement authorities outweigh freedom of speech, and the videos should not be available online.
“We expect that providers – in this case Google/YouTube – make an active contribution in the fight against violent jihadism,” Marty said.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
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Switzerland will be the first country to sign this accord, the first of its kind, in Latvia next week. “Switzerland wants to show the world that it is taking seriously the fight against terrorism,” said cabinet spokesman André Simonazzi on Wednesday. The government also plans to submit planned legal amendments to parliament for approval. Terrorist…
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You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.