Washington, DC – Palestinian American journalist Ali Abunimah has confirmed that Swiss authorities have launched and deported him after holding him for 3 days.
Abunimah, the manager director of the Digital Intifada publication, instructed in a social media publish on Monday that Switzerland detained him due to his advocacy for Palestinian rights.
“My ‘crime’? Being a journalist who speaks up for Palestine and in opposition to Israel’s genocide and settler-colonial savagery and people who support and abet it,” he wrote.
Abunimah was arrested in Zurich on Saturday earlier than he was set to ship a speech within the metropolis, sparking outrage from Palestinian rights advocates.
The Swiss embassy in Washington, DC, didn’t instantly reply to Al Jazeera’s request for remark.
The Reuters information company reported on Sunday that the Swiss police cited an entry ban and different measures underneath the nation’s immigration legislation as the explanation for Abunimah’s arrest.
The Palestinian American journalist stated that when he was questioned by law enforcement officials, they accused him of “offending in opposition to Swiss legislation” with out offering particular prices.
He stated he was “minimize off from communication with the skin world, in a cell 24 hours a day”, including that he was unable to contact his household. He added that he was solely given again his telephone on the gate of the aircraft that flew him to Istanbul.
Abunimah famous that through the interval when he was taken to jail like a “harmful felony”, Switzerland welcomed Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the World Financial Discussion board in Davos.
Herzog has sparked controversy for his stance on Israel’s struggle on Gaza, which has killed greater than 47,000 Palestinians. He beforehand stated that there are not any “uninvolved civilians” in Gaza.
“This ordeal lasted three days however that style of jail was greater than sufficient to go away me in even better awe of the Palestinian heroes who endure months and years within the prisons of the genocidal oppressor,” Abunimah stated.
“Greater than ever, I do know that the debt we owe them is one we will by no means repay and all of them have to be free and so they should stay our focus.”
I’m free! I wrote this on the aircraft and I’m posting it simply after touchdown at Istanbul. On Monday night I used to be dropped at Zurich airport in handcuffs, in a small steel cage inside a windowless jail van and led all the best way to the aircraft by police. That is after three days and two… pic.twitter.com/S4BF2eEYYQ
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) January 27, 2025
United Nations consultants had decried Abunimah’s detention as an assault on free speech.
Irene Khan, a UN particular rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression, described Abunimah’s arrest as “surprising information” on Saturday and urged his launch.
Francesca Albanese, the UN particular rapporteur on human rights within the occupied Palestinian territories, additionally referred to as for an investigation into the incident.
“The local weather surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is changing into more and more poisonous, and we must always all be involved,” Albanese wrote in a social media publish.
Abunimah’s detention got here amid an elevated clampdown on pro-Palestine voices in Europe amid the war on Gaza, which UN consultants have in contrast with genocide.
In April, Germany shut down a convention for Palestinian rights advocates and denied entry to the British physician Ghassan Abu Sittah, who had labored in Gaza.
Activists have additionally accused German authorities of cracking down on protests all through the struggle.
In October 2024, British counterterrorism police raided the house of Abunimah’s Digital Intifada colleague Asa Winstanley — an incident that the Committee to Shield Journalists (CPJ) stated was a part of a “disturbing sample of weaponizing counter-terrorism legal guidelines in opposition to reporters”.
Months earlier, British authorities held journalist Richard Medhurst, who’s vocally crucial of Israeli insurance policies, for twenty-four hours as he arrived in London.
Medhurst stated on Saturday that the “terrorism” investigation in opposition to him was prolonged till Might.
In Gaza, Israel has killed 205 journalists for the reason that begin of the struggle in October 2023, in accordance with native authorities.
