Defendants cleared in al-Qaeda trial

Keystone

A court in southern Switzerland has cleared seven defendants of links to al-Qaeda, in the first trial of its kind in the country.

The citizens of Yemen, Somalia and Iraq had been accused of belonging to and supporting a criminal organisation. But experts had pointed out the lack of firm evidence in the case.

The prosecution had demanded prison sentences of up to four-and-a-half years. The seven were alleged to have belonged to a criminal organisation run by the principal defendant. Two were further accused of maintaining contacts with al-Qaeda.

But in its ruling on Wednesday, the federal criminal court rejected the prosecution’s case, even though the main defendant admitted having contact with al-Qaeda member, Abdullah el Rimi.

But he was found not guilty of the charge of offering to procure a passport for el Rimi, who was involved in the attacks on the American naval destroyer, USS Cole, in 2000 and in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh in 2003.

The group was also accused of smuggling several dozen Yemenis into Switzerland between 1998 and 2004.

The defendants will receive up to SFr93,000 ($76,000) to compensate for time they spent in investigative custody.

Experts on terrorism were not surprised by the verdict.

Vague concept

“The concept of al-Qaeda still remains very vague. It is difficult to define the contours of the threat, therefore knowing what one should be looking for. Therefore, the verdict reflects the uncertainty surrounding the threat.” Swiss specialist, Jacques Baud, told swissinfo.

Lawyers had criticised the lack of evidence, which largely consisted of SMS messages and telephone calls.

“Without a precise definition of al-Qaeda and its network people are often suspicious of what are quite often innocent activities,” Baud added.

However, the court did find six of the seven guilty of violating the law on foreign residents, and handed down conditional sentences of up to 11 months.

The trial, which opened last month in Lugano, was the first of its kind for the federal prosecutor. It is estimated to have cost SFr1 million ($820,000) to stage.

The defendants were arrested in January 2004.

swissinfo with agencies

Terrorism trials

Three other cases of suspected Islamic terrorism are pending.

A Saudi Arabian businessman, Y.K., is alleged to have transferred millions from his Swiss bank account to people belonging to al-Qaeda. The case has been with the investigating judge since June 2005.

A preliminary inquiry was opened last September into several people of North Africa origin, arrested in Switzerland and accused of theft in connection with a planned terrorist attack on an Israeli aircraft.

A third case focuses on a suspect, born in Morocco, who allegedly used the internet to call for terrorist attacks. The authorities say they will bring charges against the woman in the next few weeks.

The case of the Egyptian businessman, Youssef Nada, and his al-Taqwa bank was dropped due to a lack of evidence. He was suspected of supporting terrorism. Nada is still on the UN list of terrorist suspects and is under house arrest in Campione d’Italia.