Switzerland release, Palestinian American journalist Ali Abunimah | Freedom of press news
Washington DC – Palestinian American journalist Ali Abunimah has confirmed that Swiss authorities left him after catching him for three days and deported him.
Abunima, Executive Director of Electronic Intefada Prakashan, suggested in a social media post on Monday that Switzerland detained her due to her advocacy for Palestinian rights.
“My ‘crime’? As a journalist who speaks for Palestine and speaks against Israel’s massacre and settling-colonial sevari and those who assist and end it,” he wrote.
Expressing displeasure with Advocates of Palestinian rights, Abunimah was arrested in Zurich on Saturday before he was ready to make a speech in the city.
The Swiss Embassy in Washington, DC did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s remarks.
The Reuters News Agency said on Sunday that the Swiss police cited an entry ban and other measures under the country’s immigration law, which is the reason for Abunim’s arrest.
The Palestinian American journalist said, when he was questioned by police officers, he accused him of “abusive against Swiss law” without providing specific allegations.
He said that he was “cut off from communication with the outside world, in a cell a day in a cell”, saying that he was unable to contact his family. He said that he was given his phone back only at the aircraft gate which took him to Istanbul.
Abunima said, during the period when she was taken to jail like a “dangerous criminal”, Switzerland welcomed Israel President Isaac Herzog on the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Herzog has created a controversy over Gaza for its stance on Israel’s war, killing more than 47,000 Palestinians. He had earlier said that there are no “uninvited citizens” in Gaza.
“This ordinance lasted for three days, but the taste of the prison was enough for me to leave even more for the Palestinian heroes, which tolerate months and years in the genre of genocide,” said Abunimah.
“More than ever, I know that the loan we take is what we can never repay and all of them should be independent and they should be focused.”
I am not busy! I wrote this on the plane and I am posting it after landing in Istanbul. On Monday evening, I was brought to a small metal cage inside a window -free gel van, brought to the Zurich Airport in handcuffs and led by the police to the plane. It is after three days and two … pic.twitter.com/S4BF2EEYYYQ
– Ali Abunimah (@Aliabunimah) 27 January, 2025
United Nations experts reduced Abunima’s custody as an attack on free speech.
The United Nations special synergy for opinion and freedom of expression, Irein Khan on Saturday described Abunima’s arrest as a “shocking news” and urged her release.
Franceska Albani, also called human rights in the Palestinian areas occupied by the United Nations, to investigate the incident.
Albanis wrote in a social media post, “The climate around the freedom of speaking in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be worried.”
Amid the war on Gaza, Abunima was detained amidst an enlarged clampdown on pro -Palestine voices in Europe, which is compared by the UN experts with a genocide.
In April, Germany closed a conference for the Palestinian rights advocates and denied entering British doctor Ghasan Abu Sattah, who worked in Gaza.
The activists have also accused the German authorities of breaking up protests throughout the war.
In October 2024, the anti-British terrorism police raided the house of Aasa Winstonley, an electronic integrity of the Electronic Intefada of Abunimah-the committee to protect the journalists (CPJ) for the committee said that “terrorism-opinionalism laws against journalists Was part of the disturbing pattern “to make.
Months ago, British authorities by journalist Richard Medaharst, who arrived in London, are vocal for the policies of Israel for 24 hours.
Medharst said on Saturday that “terrorism” investigation against him was extended till May.
In Gaza, according to local officials, Israel has killed 205 journalists since the onset of the war in October 2023.
