Recently in Switzerland Category

In the thirteenth century the Ismaili Shi'ite Hashishin (حشّاشين), or Assassins, got their name from their practice of using hashish before setting out on jihad missions to assassinate Sunni leaders. They went into their missions knowing that death was virtually certain, and energized by the promise of Paradise that had been made vivid for them in an artful scenario that was used as a recruitment tool: the prospective assassin would be given hashish and then taken into a garden full of beautiful women, and told that he was enjoying a taste of Islamic Paradise. Then to return to that Paradise, he was told that he had to go out and kill his victim, and be killed in the process.

These guys don't seem to be as clever. They're just using the marijuana as a hook for their dawah.

"Pot peddlers 'forced teens to become Muslim,'" from The Local, November 29 (thanks to Benedict):

Police have arrested members of a gang of Eastern European immigrants who used violence, intimidation and the promotion of Islam to control marijuana trafficking operations in the Neuchâtel mountains, cantonal justice authorities said on Thursday.

Three members were detained for questioning following the arrest of another ringleader in March, who remains in jail, the public prosecutor’s office said, while issuing an appeal to the public for more information to help permanently disband the group.

The gang, which calls itself the Jamahat, forced other young people to become Muslims as part of its operations, said officials.

The group peddled pot to adolescents from disadvantaged families in the cities of Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds, traditional watch-making centres,the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The group is made up of young Muslim men originally from such places as Chechnya, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia who recently stepped up their criminal activities, authorities said.

The group “is attempting to radicalize its activities by seeking to impose — by physical and psychological violence — a monopoly on the sale of marijuana in our region.”...

On top of this, victims were made to convert to Islam, often without knowing anything about the religion and in “blind submission” to the wishes of the Jamahat group, authorities said....

This gives the lie to the cringing dhimmis who oppose Pamela Geller's AFDI pro-freedom ads by saying that they will "provoke" angry and possibly even violent reactions from Muslims. Just being non-Muslims and daring to display Christian symbols, even in a non-religious context, is enough to insult and enrage some Muslims. In Islamic law, dhimmi Christians who live under the "protection" of the Islamic state are forbidden to make any open display of their religion. And that is what Cemil Baysal is demanding of the Swiss. It is just Sharia in action, yet again.

"Swiss makes Muslims cross over billboard ads," from The Local, October 16 (thanks to Twostellas):

Swiss International Air Lines is raising hackles among Muslims over a slogan used in a recent German-language publicity campaign.

Alluding to its logo, taken from Switzerland’s national flag, the slogan says in German, “Kreuz ist Trumpf”, literally, the “cross is trumps”, or the “cross is a plus”.

The words are used in a billboard campaign, launched within the country last month, that highlights the white cross on the back of one of its planes.

Muslims in Switzerland have responded negatively to the advertising, which they believe promotes Christianity over other religions.

In Swiss internet forums, Islamists complain that Swiss makes reference to the “cross” and not the “Swiss cross”, Der Sonntag newspaper reported.

The issue has been picked up by newspapers in several Muslim countries.

Turkish journalist Cemil Baysal said he is not surprised by the angry response to the campaign which comes on the heels of the emotional reaction by Muslims globally to the American film “Innocence of Muslims”.

The anti-Islamic film touched off violent protests across North Africa and the Middle East.

“Many Muslims feel this Christian slogan (of Swiss) is a provocation and an assault against Islam,” Baysal told Der Sonntag.

Swiss maintains that its ad campaign does not carry any religious or political message.

The slogan is, in fact, a play on words, referring to “trumps” in Jass, the popular card game that is strongly rooted in Switzerland, airline spokeswoman Myriam Ziesack told Sonntag.

She said it was unfortunate that the billboard advertising appeared at the same time as the anti-Muhammad American film surfaced on the Internet.

“We didn’t intend to make any religious or political statement with this advertising message,” Ziesack said.

“However, should the religious feelings of others have been hurt by others, we regret that very much.”

For pete's sake. You regret it very much? Why can't you stand up for yourself for once?

This man was trusted and respected, and given a position of high responsibility. He could have done incalculable damage. But that possibility never entered anyone's mind, because after all, he was a "moderate"! "France jails Cern physicist Adlene Hicheur for terror plot," from the BBC, May 4 (thanks to Bob):

A French court has sentenced a scientist at the prestigious Cern laboratory to five years in prison for plotting terrorist attacks.

Adlene Hicheur was arrested in 2009 after police intercepted his emails to an alleged contact in al-Qaeda.

The emails suggested Algerian-born Hicheur was willing to be part of an "active terrorist unit", attacking targets in France.

Defence lawyers argued that their client had never been part of a plot.

Hicheur, who is a particle physicist, worked as a researcher studying the origins of the universe at Cern.

His father embraced him in the Paris courtroom before he was taken away to prison.
Suspicion

Hicheur has already spent two and a half years in jail while awaiting trial.

He came under suspicion when threatening messages were sent to President Sarkozy in early 2008.

The security services uncovered a series of email exchanges between Hicheur and an alleged al-Qaeda member called Mustapha Debchi.

After his arrest in 2009 police found a large quantity of Islamist literature at his parents' home.

At the start of his trial the 35-year-old scientist admitted that he had been going through a psychologically "turbulent" time in his life when he wrote the emails....

Ah yes -- as Hugh Fitzgerald noted years ago at Jihad Watch, psychologically "turbulent" times have more than once led "moderate" Muslims to turn to jihad.

Be sure to register for our Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference on honor killings on April 29th in Dearborn, Michigan. Register here.

There will be more and more honor killings in the West until Western authorities have the courage to address its root causes, but that day may never come, but Islamic teaching contains a justification for the practice, and no one dares speak against something that is taught in Islam.

It is no accident or coincidence that Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. A manual of Islamic law certified as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy by Al-Azhar University, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam, says that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2). In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law.

And here the killer got 17 years. 17 years for a brutal premeditated murder? Why not life in prison, at very least? Only because he showed remorse? I am sure his performance was Oscar-worthy, but there is an issue of justice involved.

Switzerland seems to be becoming like Muslim polities that lessen penalties for honor killings. The Palestinian Authority gives pardons or suspended sentences for honor murders. Iraqi women have asked for tougher sentences for Islamic honor murderers, who get off lightly now. Syria in 2009 scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but "the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour 'provided he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.'" And in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that "Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values."

"Father gets 17 years for killing daughter with axe," from The Local, April 18:

The 53-year-old Pakistani man who killed his 16-year-old daughter, Swera, at their home in Zurich-Höngg in 2010 has been sentenced to 17 years imprisonment.

The Zurich District Court found the father guilty of murder, and concluded that although it had not been an honour killing in the sense most commonly understood, the man had killed his daughter “to get out of a humiliating situation and to restore his honour”.

The court stated that the father, referred to as Scheragha R, had used “really excessive violence” and that he had killed his teenaged daughter with “reckless brutality”, newspaper Tages Anzieger reported.

The court listened as the defence lawyer, Matthias Brunner, described a man who had reached the end of his tether, both physically and emotionally, having been particularly burdened by his two younger daughters’ psychological, behavioural and developmental problems.

The discovery that his favourite eldest daughter wanted to move out of the home finally destroyed the family ideal he had held and sent him over the edge, Brunner said.

But the prosecution, represented by Ulrich Krättli, went in hard and asserted that the father “had downright massacred his daughter”.

The court found that the brutality was such that Scheragha R deserved a life-sentence, although this was partially reduced because the 53-year-old had confessed to the murder and demonstrated feelings of remorse.

Each of the remaining children will receive between 12,000 and 15,000 francs in compensation for suffering.

From whom?

The murder took place on May 10th 2010, not long after 16-year-old Swera had been picked up at a Zurich police station by her parents. She had been caught stealing cigarettes.

It was the first time the girl had seen her father for two weeks: she had run away after her father had allegedly tried to electrocute her by throwing a hairdryer into the bath, online news site 20 Minuten reported.

Once back at their apartment Swera said she wanted to leave home permanently and started to pack a bag. She then went down to the basement of the building to get a pair of shoes. While she was gone, her father allegedly retrieved an axe from the balcony and hid it in the bedroom he shared with his wife.

Once she was back in the apartment, the girl went into her parents' bedroom to pick up some of her belongings. When she bent down to retrieve some items from the wardrobe, her father hit her with the axe on the back of the head, the prosecutor says. The man struck his daughter 19 times with the axe: 12 times with the blade and seven with the blunt end.

The teenager did not die instantly, but lay on the ground in agonizing pain for several minutes until her life finally slipped away.

After washing his hands, Scheragha R left the apartment and called his wife to say he had killed his daughter. Fifteen minutes later, he called the police, who arrested him shortly after near his apartment.

It is no accident or coincidence that Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. A manual of Islamic law certified as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy by Al-Azhar University, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam, says that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2). In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law.

Syria in 2009 scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but "the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour 'provided he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.'" And in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that "Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values."

Nonetheless, the media drumbeat is constant: honor killings have nothing to do with Islam. And so they continue, as no one ever challenges Muslim authorities to do anything to stop them.

"Dad killed daughter in brutal axe murder," from The Local, January 13 (thanks to Twostellas):

A Swiss prosecutor has described as a "veritable slaughter" the vicious axe murder of a 16-year-old girl by her 53-year-old Pakistani father, who believed his daughter had tarnished her family's honour.

The charge sheet presented by prosecutor Ulrich Krättli suggests he will call for the accused to be given life in prison, the maximum sentence under Swiss law, when the high-profile case goes to trial on March 14th.

On May 10th 2010, 16-year-old Swera was picked up at a Zurich police station by both her parents. She had been held there by police after she was arrested for a minor theft.

Once back at their apartment in Höngg, on the outskirts of the city, a heated argument broke out between father and daughter, newspaper Tages Anzeiger reports.

The girl said she wanted to leave home permanently and started to pack her things. She then went down to the basement of the building to get a pair of shoes. While she was gone, her father allegedly retrieved an axe from the balcony and hid it in the bedroom he shared with his wife.

Once she was back in the apartment, the girl went into her parents' bedroom to pick up some of her belongings. When she bent down to get some things from the wardrobe, her father hit her with the axe on the back of the head, the prosecutor says. The man struck his daughter 19 times with the axe: 12 times with the blade and seven with the blunt end.

The teenager not die instantly, but lay on the ground in agonising pain for several minutes until her life finally slipped away.

The father left the axe between her legs, pointing to the feet, a gesture Krättli does not want to interpret, but that usually has sexual connotations and expresses the motives behind the murder, newspaper Tages Anzeiger reports.

After washing his hands, he left the apartment and called his wife to say he had killed his daughter. Fifteen minutes later, he called the police, who arrested him shortly after near his apartment.

In an interview with newspaper Blick, Swera's boyfriend explained that the girl's parents had strongly disapproved of her relationship with him, primarily because he was a Christian. The boy said she was desperate to get away from her parents and had already sought help from a local youth shelter.

According to the prosecutor, the defendant killed his daughter because she had violated his archaic values and had brought shame on the family. Krättli says the Pakistani man had planned the killing “in cold blood”.

The 53-year-old man has remained in custody since the girl's death. He will be tried in March not just for the brutal killing of his daughter, but also for allegedly trying to kill her three weeks earlier.

On April 20th, the pair had argued after the girl's father suspected she had been smoking marijuana.

Seizing his chance while she was in the bathroom, he pushed her into the bathtub, turned on the tap and threw a hairdryer into the water.

He wanted to electrocute her, the prosecutor alleges, but his attempt failed because of an in-built security system in the appliance to prevent electric shocks upon contact with water. On that occasion, the 16-year-old girl managed to get away before running to a friend’s home in her wet clothes.

Given pitch of the antisemitism in Islamic texts, this story is fortified with a month's supply of irony. As noted earlier, the point of this exercise is to cast anyone standing in the way of Islamic supremacism and a potentially limitless demand for accommodations (including getting rid of the Swiss flag, which has a cross on it) as Nazis: he who hath looked critically on anything having to do with Islam hath committed hate crimes in his heart.

"Anger as Muslims demonstrate with yellow Star of David," from YNet News, November 5:

Protesters wore a yellow star sticker printed with the word "Muslim" reminiscent of the one that the Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Third Reich. Some protesters constructed a plastic model of a mosque with minarets, which are banned in Switzerland.

Edith Bino, president of the Jewish community in Bern, told the Basler Times that she found the use of the yellow star "so obviously wrong that it could not be taken seriously." And Yves Kugelmann, editor in chief of the Jewish newspaper Tachles, said he found the choice of symbols "simply idiotic."

"It is regrettable when legitimate concerns are raised using false comparisons," Kugelmann told the Basler Times. He said that discrimination against Muslims is a theme that must be taken seriously in Switzerland, "but not in this cheap way."

The choice of symbolism irked Muslim groups as well: Two mainstream Muslim organizations reportedly stayed away from the demonstration as a result.

Nicolas Blancho, head of the Islamic Central Council, defended his choice of symbols, telling the Tages Anzeiger newspaper that "Muslims are treated as second-class citizens and are discriminated against, for example because they wear a headscarf or because of their name when they look for an apprenticeship or are looking for an apartment."

Among the speakers were British journalist Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Booth, who has converted to Islam and wears a veil, told demonstrators she sensed that Bern citizens had glared at her as she passed them on the street.

As described below, this arrogant move comes amid a larger climate of legal jihad aimed at making Switzerland stop being Switzerland, all while saying it's the Swiss thing to do. "Immigrants Want Cross Removed from Swiss Flag," by Soeren Kern for Hudson NY, September 26 (thanks to JS):

An immigrant group based in Bern has called for the emblematic white cross to be removed from the Swiss national flag because as a Christian symbol it "no longer corresponds to today's multicultural Switzerland."

Ivica Petrusic, the vice president of Second@s Plus, a lobbying group that represents mostly Muslim second-generation foreigners in Switzerland (who colloquially are known as secondos) says the group will launch a nationwide campaign in October to ask Swiss citizens to consider adopting a flag that is less offensive to Muslim immigrants.

Switzerland isn't forcing people to go live there if the flag offends them.

In a September 18 interview with the Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung, Petrusic said the cross has a Christian background and while the Christian roots of Switzerland should be respected, "it is necessary to separate church and state" because "Switzerland today has a great religious and cultural diversity. One has to ask if the State wants to continue building up a symbol in which many people no longer believe."

In the interview, Petrusic said Switzerland needs new symbols with which everyone, including non-Christians, can identify. As an alternative to the current Swiss flag (see image here), Petrusic proposed the former flag of the Helvetic Republic (see image here) which was officially introduced in 1799 and consisted of green, red and yellow colors. "Those colors are similar to the current flags of Bolivia and Ghana and would represent a more progressive and open-minded Switzerland," Petrusic said.

The proposal to change the Swiss flag has been met with outrage across the political spectrum and is sure to fuel anti-immigrant sentiments in Switzerland.

Sylvia Flückiger a councillor with the conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP) said the demands are: "Totally unacceptable. With our Swiss flag there is nothing to change. The next thing you know, they will demand even more, that we change our constitution."

Marianne Binder, spokeswoman for the center-right Christian Democrats (CVP) said: "This is just what was missing, that we need to change our flag. The Swiss flag is part of Swiss identity, precisely because it is inviting for all to want to be involved...even the immigrants."

Stefan Brupbacher, general secretary of the libertarian Free Democrats (FDP) said: "This is utter nonsense. The Swiss cross is an extremely successful and valuable global brand. It is a symbol of success and quality. We will tightly hold on to it, out of love for Switzerland."

The issue of Muslim immigration to Switzerland has been a hotly debated topic in recent years and the flag controversy is sure to add fuel to the fire.

At this point, it is probably a poorly calculated overreach.

The Muslim population in Switzerland has more than quintupled since 1980, and now numbers about 400,000, or roughly 5% of the population. Most Muslims living in Switzerland are of Turkish or Balkan origin, with a smaller minority from the Arab world. Many of them are second- and third-generation immigrants who are now firmly establishing themselves in Switzerland.

The new Muslim demographic reality is raising tensions across large parts of Swiss society, especially as Muslims become more assertive in their demands for greater recognition of their Islamic faith.

The ensuing controversies are fuelling a debate over the role of Islam in Swiss society and how to reconcile Western values with a growing immigrant population determined to avoid assimilation.

Swiss courts have been jam-packed with Islam-related cases in recent years. In one case, Muslim parents won a lawsuit demanding that they be allowed to dress their children in full-body bathing suits, dubbed "burkinis," during co-ed swimming lessons. In another case, a group of Swiss supermarkets created a stir by banning Muslim employees from wearing headscarves.

In August 2009, the Swiss basketball association told a Muslim player she could not wear a headscarf during league games. In August 2010, five Muslim families in Basel were fined 350 Swiss Francs ($420) each for refusing to send their daughters to mixed-sex swimming lessons.

In September 2010, the secretary of the Muslim Community of Basel was acquitted of publicly inciting crime and violence. The charges were pressed after the 33-year-old made comments in a Swiss television documentary saying that Islamic Sharia law should be introduced in Switzerland and that unruly wives should be beaten. The judge said the defendant was protected by freedom of expression.

In November 2010, Swiss voters approved tough new regulations on the deportation of non-Swiss immigrants convicted of serious crimes. The measure calls for the automatic expulsion of non-Swiss offenders convicted of crimes ranging from murder to breaking and entry and social security fraud.

Also in November, Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said the approval or extension of residency permits should be closely linked to the efforts immigrants make to integrate themselves. "Compulsory schooling must be respected. Children should attend all courses and exceptions made on religious or other grounds, for example in swimming classes, should no longer be possible," Sommaruga said.

In December 2010, the Federal Commission on Women's Issues called for Islamic burqas and niqabs to be banned in government offices and in public schools. The government-appointed committee said the move would prevent gender discrimination.

In January 2011, a 66-year-old Turkish woman living in Bern was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for encouraging the father and brothers of her daughter-in-law to carry out an "honor" crime against her for her "risqué lifestyle."

In May 2011, voters in canton Ticino, in Switzerland's Italian-speaking region, collected enough signatures to be able to launch a referendum that would ban burqas, niqabs and other Islamic head dresses. If the referendum goes ahead, it will be the first time in Switzerland that citizens have been asked to express an opinion on burqas.

Also in May, Swiss Defence Minister Ueli Maurer said increasing numbers of Swiss Muslims are training in Islamic militant camps in countries like Somalia and Yemen. In an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper, Maurer also said that under current Swiss laws it is difficult to prevent Islamists from raising funds.

The SVP has described the minaret is a "symbol of a religious-political claim to power and dominance which threatens -- in the name of alleged freedom of religion -- the constitutional rights of others."

The SVP has backed its claim by citing a remark by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has implied that the construction of mosques and minarets is part of a strategy to Islamisize Europe. The pro-Islamist Erdogan has bragged: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers." Erdogan has also told Muslim immigrants in Europe that "assimilation is a crime against humanity."

In recent years the number of mosques in Switzerland has mushroomed; there now are over 200 mosques and up to 1,000 prayer rooms dotted across the country. Critics fear the mosques are facilitating the establishment of a parallel Muslim society -- one that is especially welcoming to Islamic fundamentalists.

It was thrown out because the plaintiffs couldn't prove they were injured by the minaret ban. So watch for the Islamic supremacists to cover that angle next time. "Legal move against minaret ban thrown out," from SwissInfo, July 8:

The European Court of Human Rights has rejected appeals against a ban on the construction of new minarets in Switzerland.

Judges ruled that the plaintiffs – three Muslim organisations and a private citizen – were not victims of an alleged human rights violation.

The Strasbourg-based court on Friday announced that the complaints by the applicants were not admissible.

“The main complaint was that a disputed constitutional provision offended their religious beliefs. However, they did not allege that it had had any practical effect on them,” the statement said.

The applicants could not prove either that they were indirect victims because none of them was planning on building a mosque with a minaret in Switzerland in the near future, it added.

The appeals were lodged in December 2009 following approval of a controversial rightwing initiative in a nationwide vote.

A majority of 57.5 per cent of Swiss voters came out in favour of the rightwing initiative in November 2009.

Why is it "rightwing" to oppose the spread of a triumphalist and repressive political ideology that will extinguish the freedom of speech and deny women basic rights?

And visiting Qur'an schools -- yet somehow that peaceful book's peaceful message eludes them. Eurabia Alert: "More Swiss train in Islamic militant camps," from SwissInfo, May 8:

Defence Minister Ueli Maurer says there has been an increase in the recruitment of Muslims for militant training camps.

In an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper, Maurer said the government was aware of Swiss who went to these training camps, and others who visited Koran schools.

He said the federal intelligence service had a good overview of Switzerland’s “Jihad fighters”, but refused to give any figures.

According to the intelligence service, a militant Islamic network was set up last year in Switzerland in order to find recruits who are sent to countries like Somalia and Yemen.

Maurer told the newspaper that under current Swiss laws it is difficult to prevent Islamists from raising funds.

“The intelligence service can only observe and provide analyses,” he said. “We have at our disposal very little means [to fight Islamic militant activities] since parliament has up to now rejected them.”

The story unfolds in the Swiss press, ably translated by Norman and posted by Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs:

Police knew about abuse by father

Svera was frank: "I'm afraid of my father. He beats me." But for the authorities it wasn't clear enough.

16 year old Svera R. from Zurich-Hongg: A strong person who wanted to live her life- without the bonds of the strict muslim faith which stood above everything for her father. On Monday he killed his fistborn child with an axe. Then he surrendered to the police.

Svera's friends are under shock. And they're in anger: "Svera was a poor girl. In the family there was a lot of confrontation.

Heated arguments", says Daniel A. (20) to BLICK. He lives in the community Rutihof next to family R. "Often the father was beating her so severely that we could see the bruises. She attended school in that condition." In 2007 the school filed a notion/alarm concerning the four kids who received Swiss citizenship. They got a social worker and an Egyptian counselor/mediator.  

"Nonetheless, police and ambulance showed up several times", says Daniel A. "Last time I noticed was two weeks ago, when the father had a heart attack."

That incident was confirmed by Marco Cortesi, spokesman of the police in Zurich. "Scheragha R. was brought into hospital by an ambulance." It was the second time the police got involved with family R. "Three weeks ago we were called for the first time" according to Cortesi. "Svera ran away. Very soon we located her at her boy-friend's home. On the phone she told an officer that things aren't all right at home any longer. That her father beats her and that she is afraid of him."

What does the police do with these information? "We offered her to visit the police station and provide a testimony- or move to a shelter. She didn't do either. That's why the charge of abuse wasn't investigated any further. This is standard procedure", says Cortesi.

The family counselor arranged a mediation between father and daughter. Svera spent a night at her parents' home but then ran away to her boy-friend.

"The third deployment in that case occurred on Monday when Svera and a friend of hers were caught stealing", says Cortesi. "We informed the parents." And Svera? "She said it was ok with her- but she would run away from home instantly."

But why were these cries for help not being paid attention to? Cortesi explains: "She didn't go to the police station in order to provide a testimony, nor did she contact a shelter. That way a case like this does not get on record."

At the Guardianship Authority (I guess: Guardian ad litem) of the city of Zurich father's R. beatings were never an issue.
Spokesman Martin Naef (39): "There were no indications of massive use of violence. It seems like it wasn't more than  skirmishes/fisticuffs and arguments/conflicts." Moreover, family R. had been in care/coached intensively. Naef: "We were under the impression that tension had been in decline since 2007." During the last weeks the family counselor increased visits to the family even more.

Tragic: A meeting with Svera, coaches and family counselor was scheduled for Tuesday morning. Naef: "It was planned to talk about the situation at home and assistance/care." Too late. Svera is dead.

Read it all.

And so the hard-won principle of equality of treatment for all starts to give way, and Muslims begin to be established as a privileged class in society, as Sharia dictates. "Muslim army recruits get special conditions," from Swiss Info, April 19 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

The Swiss army has drawn up guidelines outlining special conditions for meals and prayers for its rising number of Muslim recruits.

The move is in line with the army's tradition of catering to other faiths, spokesman Martin Bühler said, following an article in the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. Special provisions already exist for Jewish soldiers.

Muslims going into the summer recruit school - part of obligatory military service for young men - can now signal that they do not want to eat pork. They will instead be offered an alternative. Halal products can in some cases be brought in.

However, the five daily prayers will not be possible, but recruits will be able to pray once the day's army duties are over.

I expect that that will prove unacceptable.

The guidelines have been drawn up with the input of Muslims, according to the NZZ am Sonntag.

The number of recruits of Islamic faith has been on the rise in the past few years. In some infantry recruit schools, one in ten new soldiers is a Muslim, the paper said....

Instead, he should be calling on Gaddafi to apologize for the double standard of his call for Muslims to undertake economic jihad against Switzerland for banning minarets when non-Muslim religious practice is restricted far more severely than cosmetic issues all over the Islamic world.

"US apologises over Gaddafi comments," from the BBC, March 9 (thanks to Pamela):

The US state department has apologised for comments made about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's call for jihad against Switzerland.

Department spokesman PJ Crowley, who made the dismissive comments, said they did not reflect US policy and were not intended to offend.

Col Gaddafi had criticised a Swiss vote against the building of minarets and urged Muslims to boycott the country.

Mr Crowley described it as "lots of words, not necessarily a lot of sense." [...]

"I regret that my comments have become an obstacle to further progress in our bilateral relationship," Mr Crowley said.

Last week, Libya's National Oil Corporation warned US oil firms of possible "repercussions" over Mr Crowley's reaction.

The Libyan ambassador to the US sought to clarify Col Gaddafi's remarks saying the Libyan leader meant an economic boycott not "an armed attack".

"I should have focused solely on our concern about the term jihad, which has since been clarified by the Libyan government," Mr Crowley added.

As if the clarification, which was that economic jihad should be waged rather than violent jihad, makes Libya's action acceptable.

"I understand my personal comments were perceived as a personal attack on the president," he said.

"These comments do not reflect US policy and were not intended to offend. I apologise if they were taken that way."

Just an economic and commercial boycott, that's all. But of course Qaddafi would be the first to oppose any economic and commercial boycott of Saudi Arabia for not allowing the construction of churches and synagogues -- and Switzerland has done far less than that regarding mosques. "Libya says jihad against Switzerland 'not an armed struggle,'" from the Telegraph, March 4 (thanks to Twostellas):

Libya said its leader Colonel Gaddafi's call for "jihad" against Switzerland was not a reference to armed struggle.

Ali Aujali, Libya's ambassador to the United States, said: "It is a call for (an) economic and commercial boycott against Switzerland, this is true, but it doesn't mean by any means that it is an armed struggle."

On Feb 25, Col Gaddafi called for a "jihad" against Switzerland, branding it an infidel state that was destroying mosques - an apparent reference to a Swiss referendum in favour of banning the construction of minarets.

But Mr Aujali said that Tripoli still expects an apology for US criticism of his remarks....

They probably don't believe he will actually do anything. And maybe he won't. Maybe. An update on this story. "Switzerland Plays Down Qaddafi's Calls for 'Jihad,'" by Steven Erlanger for New York Times, February 26 (thanks to all who sent this in):

PARIS -- The Swiss government reacted blandly on Friday to the latest rhetorical sally from the eccentric Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, who called on Thursday for a "jihad" against Switzerland. The two countries have been sparring ever since the Swiss arrested one of Colonel Qaddafi's sons and his wife in 2008 on suspicion of beating their servants.

On Thursday, in a rambling address in Benghazi, Libya, before a gathering to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, Colonel Qaddafi called for jihad, or a holy war, against Switzerland because of its ban on new minarets for mosques and urged Muslims to boycott Swiss products and ban Swiss planes and ships.

"Those who destroy God's mosques deserve to be attacked through jihad, and if Switzerland was on our borders, we would fight it," Colonel Qaddafi was quoted as saying by Libya's official news agency....

Who would have thought that the legendary Libyan "strongman" would turn out to be a Misunderstander of Islam? Why is it that those who understand Islam correctly as a Religion of Peace seem to inhabit only Western university posts, not leadership positions in the governments of Muslim countries? "Kadhafi calls for jihad against Switzerland over minaret ban," from AFP, February 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi called on Thursday for jihad (holy war) against Switzerland over the ban adopted last year on the construction of minarets in the country.

"It is against unbelieving and apostate Switzerland that jihad ought to be proclaimed by all means," Kadhafi said during a speech in the Mediterranean coastal city of Bengazi to mark the birthday of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.

"Apostate" Switzerland because Islam teaches that all people were originally Muslim.

"Jihad against Switzerland, against Zionism, against foreign aggression is not terrorism," Kadhafi said.

"Any Muslim around the world who has dealings with Switzerland is an infidel (and is) against Islam, against Mohammed, against God, against the Koran," the leader told a crowd of thousands in a speech broadcast live on television....

Expect Honest Ibe Hooper to book the next flight to Tripoli to explain to Libya's aging rock star that the Qur'an actually teaches peace, respect for the People of the Book, etc. etc. etc.

In case the jihad in Switzerland needs a boost. After all, more and more inmates from Gitmo are returning to the jihad -- and what was done there in any case to prevent that eventuality? Nothing whatsoever. "U.S. sends Uzbek from Guantanamo prison to Switzerland," from Reuters, January 26 (thanks to Maxwell):

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Uzbek detainee held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has been sent to Switzerland for resettlement, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

The prisoner was the latest transferred from the facility as the Obama administration seeks to close the controversial prison opened in 2002 to house foreign terrorism suspects....

On December 24, the Arab American News published a piece called "Minaret ban indicates evolving fascism" by Ali Moossavi, in which Moossavi, with a Charles-Johnsonish flair for defamation, characterized those concerned about the Islamization of Europe as neofascists. Predictably, Moossavi paid no attention to the fact that there is no similar reaction in Europe against Hindus, Sikhs, or other immigrant communities. Moossavi doesn't consider, of course, the fact that many young Muslims in Europe identify publicly with the global jihad and against Western ideals of freedom and democracy.

Roy Brown of the International Humanist and Ethical Union responded with this letter to the Arab American News:

Mr Moossavi has completely failed to understand the reasons for the Swiss vote in favour of a ban on the construction of minarets. The call for a referendum was certainly provocative and the Swiss People's Party, the SVP, is certainly on the right of Swiss politics. But the SVP does not have the level of support which on its own would have brought them victory in the referendum.

The Swiss in general are a tolerant, liberal people, and are not racists. But living as they do in the heart of Europe, they can hardly be unaware of what is happening around them. The vote was quite simply a reaction to the ever more shrill demands of Europe's Islamic leaders for special rights and special treatment. Examples are legion: special areas set aside in the workplace for prayers - in company time; demands for an alternative system of justice based on sharia law for the settlement of family disputes that would deny women equal treatment; and the fact that while not all Muslims are terrorists, most terrorists we have seen in Europe recently have been Muslims.

The Swiss were also provoked by a recent call by Muammar Gaddafi for Switzerland to be broken up because the Geneva police had had the temerity to arrest his son for beating a servant, followed by the unjustified arrest of two Swiss businessmen in Libya in retaliation.

Most of all, however, the Swiss have been provoked by the failure of Europe's Muslims to play by the rules; to enter into debate about the merits and demerits of Islam, but instead to take to the streets, banners screaming for the overthrow of democracy and freedom, at every insult to Islam, real or perceived.

The other reason for the success of the vote was that it does not infringe the right of Muslims to practice their religion. It was merely symbolic. Muslims are completely free to build mosques and worship in them as they please without any interference. It is no hardship not to have a minaret. To put this into perspective it should be compared with the plight of the Christians in Iraq and Egypt who face daily violence, with priests being murdered, churches burnt and worshipers harassed.

No, Mr Moossavi, this was not racism or fascism, it was a protest vote and a wake up call to Europe's Muslims to lower the tone.

Roy W Brown
Lausanne, Switzerland

The well-known Hamas propagandist, the "Palestinian" Arab Azzam al-Tamimi, has recently denounced the Swiss for their vote, one overwhelming in favor of banning minarets, on a program beamed out by Al-Jazeeera. Azzam al-Tamimi is quite a figure in London, where he used to be -- just a few years ago -- a respected commentator on Middle Eastern, especially Arab-Israeli matters. In the United States too, he was allowed, a few years ago, in the guise of that same respected commentator and analyst, to contribute a "My Turn" column to Newsweek, no doubt his piece being vetted and approved by the disturbingly skull-faced Fareed al-Zakaria. Zakaria has been such a sly apologist on the matter of Islam, though he himself, in his own ostentatious behavior, is reassuringly "moderate" (you know, with a love of wine, and that sort of thing, that can so mislead). You can see, for your first viewing, the Al-Jazeera interview with Al-Tamimi here.

Al-Tamimi's performance is telling, and deserves to be seen. One hopes that his, and similar denunciations, will be played and played in Switzerland and all over Europe, so that the next time there is a vote, the well-informed will not constitute 58%, but 98% of the vote. Al-Tamimi mingles real fury and illogic with, at times, a voice barely under control, but meant to indicate that he, Azzam al-Tamimi, is being logical. He begins by maintaining that while the "Swiss elites" were intelligently against the ban, the ignorant Swiss people themselves, devoid of intelligence, were for it. Or rather, while the Swiss "elites" were against the ban, it was those "neo-Nazis" whose "neo-Nazi" followers, according to Al-Tamimi in his Al-Jazeera interview, were "behind the Swiss minaret ban." Except that a few seconds later he decides that it was really the "Zionists" who were behind the ban, but don't worry, in a Hegelian synthesis of the thesis ("neo-Nazis" were behind it) and the antithesis ("Zionists" were behind it), he offers his own synthesis: the "neo-Nazis" and the "Zionists," naturally, have no trouble working hand in glove.

From Switzerland comes this contemporary political statement that is also an intimation of future Eurabian Christmases (thanks to Islam In Europe).

That'll show us.

And of course, for many, it will. There are so many cowards in the West, who would rather give up all their principles than suffer any inconvenience or face any threat.

"Turks Threaten to Kill Priest over Swiss Minaret Decision," from Compass Direct News, December 15 (thanks to all who sent this in):

ISTANBUL, December 15 (CDN) -- In response to a Swiss vote banning the construction of new mosque minarets, a group of Muslims this month went into a church building in eastern Turkey and threatened to kill a priest unless he tore down its bell tower, according to an advocacy group.

Three Muslims on Dec. 4 entered the Meryem Ana Church, a Syriac Orthodox church in Diyarbakir, and confronted the Rev. Yusuf Akbulut. They told him that unless the bell tower was destroyed in one week, they would kill him.

"If Switzerland is demolishing our minarets, we will demolish your bell towers too," one of the men told Akbulut.

The threats came in reaction to a Nov. 29 referendum in Switzerland in which 57 percent voted in favor of banning the construction of new minarets in the country. Swiss lawmakers must now change the national constitution to reflect the referendum, a process that should take more than a year.

The Swiss ban, widely viewed around the world as a breach of religious freedom, is likely to face legal challenges in Switzerland and in the European Court of Human Rights....