Switzerland Muslim Cleric Hate
Switzerland
investigates
Muslim preacher over welfare fraud
DECEMBER
4,
2019
Swissinfo.ch
Switzerland-based
Muslim
preacher Abu Ramadan is under investigation for allegedly committing
welfare fraud. He has also been investigated over hate speech.
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 company Tamedia and the Swiss Public
Television.
The
media
reports say the former agronomist received more than CHF590,000
($598,317) in social assistance between 2003 and 2017. He is
accused of
concealing income worth tens of thousands of francs that could have
led to a
lower allocation of welfare benefits. The sums relate to pilgrimages
to Saudi
Arabia that the preacher accompanied.
Ramadan
is
reportedly in contact with authorities to “clarify any
misunderstandings” but
declined making a comment to the press.
It is
not the
first time that the preacher of the Ar’Rahman Mosque in the western
Swiss city
of Biel has caused controversy.
The
imam,
originally from Libya, was investigated over hateful statements
he
allegedly made against Jews, Christians, Buddhists and Muslim
Shiites
while preaching.
The
Libyan
lost his refugee status after several private trips to his country.
He now
lives in Switzerland on a C permit (permanent residence). If he
is found
guilty of the alleged crimes, he will be deported.
Non-integrated
imam
forced to leave Switzerland
OCTOBER
15, 2019
Swissinfo.ch
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. The imam was found
guilty of physically and sexually abusing his wife and did not let
her venture out of the home without his consent.
The couple has been living
apart since the woman took refuge in a women’s shelter with her four
children in December 2015. Two years later,
the cantonal migration office refused to extend the
man’s residence permit. The Kosovar had arrived in Switzerland
at the age of 26 and has lived in the country for
almost ten years.
Standing before the
Federal Court, the man invoked the protection of privacy, guaranteed
by the European Convention on Human Rights. But the judges felt that
his vision of women's rights and duties was clearly contrary to the
law and values of Switzerland.
In its judgement, the
Federal Court wrote that various elements pointed to the fact
that the imam had not assimilated Switzerland’s
social and legal values and that he did not respect them.
This was particularly true of the constitutional principle
of equality between men and women, they said.
The Federal Court also
ordered the deportation of a second-generation Turkish immigrant who
had committed 61 crimes within a two-year period. The 25-year-old
was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment and will have to leave
Switzerland after serving his sentence. Local and judicial
authorities in canton Bern determined that integration had failed
and that it was reasonable to send him to Turkey even though he had
never lived there.
Investigation
opened
against Lucerne imam
THIS
CONTENT WAS PUBLISHED ON OCTOBER 8, 2019
Swissinfo.ch
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 disobey
them.
The procedure was opened
following an article recounting the incident in the SonntagsZeitung on
October 6, the prosecutor’s office told the Keystone-SDA news agency
on Monday.
According to the
newspaper, the 38-year-old Iraqi made the remarks during a speech at
a Friday prayer session at the Kriens mosque, near Lucerne, at the
beginning of August.
The man, who is presumed
innocent until a final decision is made, purportedly suggested
disciplining women with physical violence if other methods such as
discussion or taking separate beds fail. He also reportedly called
for respect for sharia law.
SonntagsZeitung reported
that the imam arrived in Switzerland in 2007, where he filed an
asylum request that was rejected. He was reported to have received
an F residence permit which allows foreigners to be provisionally
admitted to the country in cases where it is impossible to send them
back home for specific reasons.
He was one of four Iraqis
tried by a Swiss court in 2016 for alleged support to the Islamic
State militant group. The other three people tried were all found
guilty, while he was acquitted.