Ramadan, a Libyan national, was given a 14-month suspended jail sentence and faces expulsion from Switzerland for six years.
The court on Tuesday found that the preacher had illegally received social assistance amounting to almost CHF45,000 ($46,500), despite having an income from organising pilgrimages for Muslims. It also believed the prosecution’s case that the accused called for hatred against other religions during a preaching session in a Biel mosque.
According to the indictment, Abu Ramadan called on 7 July 2017 in the Ar’Rahman mosque in Biel/Bienne, as a secular preacher, for hatred against people because of their religion or ethnicity . He allegedly targeted Jews, Christians, Hindus, Russians and Shiites.
Ramadan denied any wrongdoing, saying his sermons were misinterpreted. He also claims that he wouldn’t be safe in Libya as an opponent of the former Gaddafi regime.
Ramadan’s lawyer announced that his client will appeal against the court verdict.
It took cantonal prosecutors nearly four years to conclude their preliminary investigation, including translations of his sermons from Arabic into German.
Popular Stories
More
Demographics
Flat-hunting in Switzerland’s cheapest and most expensive municipalities
Train vs plane: would you take a direct train between London and Geneva?
Eurostar is planning to run direct trains from Britain to Germany and Switzerland from the early 2030s. Would you favour the train over the plane? If not, why not?
Switzerland among world’s most expensive for household electricity
This content was published on
According to a study by the comparison site Verivox, based on data from Global Petrol Prices, Switzerland came in tenth out of 143 countries.
Global uncertainty boosts Swiss-EU talks, says Cassis
This content was published on
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis says Switzerland’s talks with the European Union (EU) have been boosted by the current difficult global situation.
Switzerland investigates Muslim preacher over welfare fraud
This content was published on
The public prosecutor in Bern opened a criminal investigation in early 2019 after the 66-year-old preacher was denounced by the municipality of Nidau, according to Swiss media reports. He is suspected of committing fraud by unlawfully obtaining social benefits or securing welfare through the omission of facts. The case was brought to light by media…
Switzerland deports ‘Ethiopian’ hate preacher to Somalia
This content was published on
The deportation process was complicated by the hate preacher having no documentation and refusing to cooperate with migration officials. He was initially presumed to be Ethiopian, but was finally confirmed as Somalian, the State Secretariat for MigrationExternal link told Swiss public broadcaster SRFExternal link on Saturday. Two years’ ago, a court ordered the expulsion of…
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.