Islamic Council leaders sentenced for jihadist propaganda
A Swiss court has handed down fines and suspended prison sentences to two board members of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) for jihadist propaganda following a retrial.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/sb
العربية
ar
الحكم على مسؤوليْن في “مجلس الشورى الإسلامي” بتهمة الدعاية الجهادية
The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona gave Islamic council president Nicolas Blancho and its spokesman Qaasim Illi suspended sentences of 18 and 15 months respectively. They were each fined CHF500 ($550).
The two men were retried after Switzerland’s Federal Court overturned in March the ICCS officials’ earlier acquittal for terrorist propaganda.
The Federal Court in Lausanne then overturned the acquittals of Blancho and Illi, saying the lower court had erred through “excessive formalism”.
The men were charged in relation to an interview by Cherni in Syria in 2015 with a leading member of al-Qaeda. Films of the interview were subsequently used as propaganda for the al-Qaeda member concerned, according to the indictment. Two videos were published on YouTube.
In the October retrial, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General requested conditional prison sentences of 24 and 20 months for Blancho and Illi.
The two men were not present on Tuesday for the pronouncement of the sentence.
The ICCSExternal link describes itself as the country’s largest Islamic organisation and says it focuses on representing the local population. However, its 3,000 members make up less than 1% of the estimated 400,000 Muslims in Switzerland.
More
More
Islamic Council leaders face retrial for Jihadist propaganda
This content was published on
Switzerland’s Supreme Court has overturned the acquittal of two Islamic council leaders accused of terrorist propaganda.
This content was published on
Swiss public broadcasters RTS and SRF are drastically reducing their communications via the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Israel: president of Swiss universities rejects academic boycott
This content was published on
Luciana Vaccaro, president of Swissuniversities, the umbrella group of Swiss universities, is not in favour of an academic boycott of Israeli universities.
First large-scale alpine solar plant approved in Switzerland
This content was published on
The approval was met with satisfaction by the project's organisers, but it also brings with it a certain amount of pressure.
Medieval squirrels may have ‘helped spread leprosy’
This content was published on
An examination of squirrel remains in the United Kingdom has opened up interesting questions and possibilities in terms of the history of the disease.
Swiss attorney general appeals Islamic Council acquittals
This content was published on
Switzerland's attorney general filed an appeal against the acquittal of two Islamic leaders who had been accused of making terrorist propaganda.
Islamic Council leader sentenced for jihadist propaganda
This content was published on
Naim Cherni, a board member of the Islamic Council of Switzerland (ICCS), gets 20 month suspended sentence for Jihadist propaganda.
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.