Ali Abunimah was reportedly held in a solitary cell without being charged with any crime
Swiss authorities have expelled the executive director of еhe Electronic Intifada media outlet after detaining and holding him for three days, the Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abunimah wrote on X on Monday.
The pro-Palestinian journalist was arrested in Switzerland on Saturday, just hours before he was scheduled to speak at an event in Zurich.
“We do not want an Islamist Jew-hater who calls for violence in Switzerland,” Swiss Security Department head Mario Fehr told Neue Zürcher Zeitung, as authorities were considering “immigration law measures” against the 53-year-old American man.
Abunimah recounted his experience in a lengthy statement upon arriving in Istanbul on Monday. After being arrested by plainclothes officers on Saturday afternoon, he spent three days in a solitary cell, “cut off from communication with the outside world” and “not even permitted to contact my family,” he wrote.
“During a police interview on Saturday, in the presence of my lawyer, they accused me of ‘offending against Swiss law’ without ever telling me what crime I had committed in Switzerland or listing any charges,” Abunimah said, adding that, as far as he knew, he had not been charged with any crime.
The next day, he claimed he was questioned by “Swiss defense ministry intelligence agents” without his lawyer present. “I refused to talk to them without my lawyer and told them to take me back to my cell,” Abunimah stated, adding that he refused food and any drinks other than water while in detention.
“The police gave me my phone back only at the gate of the plane, so I’m only now seeing the extent of the overwhelming support and solidarity from all over the world,” the journalist said, thanking his lawyer and supporters.
Abunimah’s arrest drew criticism from several figures within the United Nations. Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, called the arrest “shocking news” and urged Bern to release the journalist in a post on X on Sunday.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, expressed similar consternation. “The climate surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned,” she wrote in response to Khan.
Born in Washington, DC, to parents from the West Bank, Abunimah co-founded the Electronic Intifada outlet in 2001. The website publishes news on Middle Eastern events from a Palestinian perspective. Abunimah regularly appears in mainstream media as a vocal advocate for the Palestinian cause.
