Winterthur district court has sentenced a 50-year-old Algerian man for attacking two worshippers in the An’Nur mosque. The man received a suspended prison sentence of 12 months and a seven-year ban from Switzerland.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/ts
العربية
ar
ترحيل جزائري من سويسرا بعد اعتدائه على مصلّين في مسجد
The man, who was involved in an attack on allegedly disloyal worshippers in Winterthur’s An’Nur mosque in 2016, was convicted of forced confinement, complicity in threats and complicity in coercion.
Because the prison sentence was conditional, the court released the man from prison immediately. He will now be handed over to the migration office for deportation so that he can be returned to France. He had gone into hiding there because of the investigations against several An’Nur visitors.
According to his statements, he works as a gardener in Strasbourg and is married for the second time. His first wife and adult son are still in Winterthur. He lived in Switzerland from 1998 until he disappeared. In May of this year he was arrested in France and has since been held in preventive detention.
During the brief interrogation, he admitted to having taken part in the attack on two Muslims because they had allegedly spoken to a journalist about radical preaching in the mosque and about Islamist worshippers. “I made a mistake and I ask for your forgiveness,” he said in court on Thursday.
The attackers, including the accused, locked the two victims in a room of the mosque, assaulted them, forced the PIN code for their mobile phone and threatened one of them with death. They forced the other to eat a ten-franc note because he was supposed to have received money in exchange for information.
More
More
Winterthur mosque raided after sermon ‘incited violence’
This content was published on
Prosecutors have opened criminal proceedings against four people, including an Ethiopian Imam, who are suspected of inciting violence at the An’Nur mosque in Winterthur, north of Zuich. Police raided the mosque and searched three other premises on Wednesday morning. The Imam is accused of having called on worshippers to murder other Muslims who refused to…
Nine other people have already been tried for this case. In October 2021, the top court in canton Zurich handed down suspended prison sentences of between 12 and 19 months and fines of between CHF160 ($180) and CHF2,000 on appeal against six defendants for coercion, false imprisonment and threats.
The imam and the president of the mosque were acquitted. They received compensation of CHF500 and CHF18,000 for the time spent in detention. Another defendant was acquitted and received compensation of CHF34,000. Proceedings are still pending before the Federal Court.
The mosque was closed after a police raid shortly after the attack.
In another trial, an imam who had preached at the An’Nur mosque was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence in 2018 for calling for violence. He was expelled from Switzerland.
More
More
Winterthur at centre of Swiss jihadi fighter claims
This content was published on
Winterthur has a growing reputation for radicalising young Muslims, but is it a fair picture of the small Swiss city?
Is artificial intelligence an advantage or a disadvantage for workers?
What is your experience with AI at work? Have you already used it? Has it helped you work better? Or has it caused you more stress, more work or caused you to lose your job? Tell us about your experiences!
Swiss price watchdog slams excessive prices for generic medicines
This content was published on
The cheapest generic medicines available in Switzerland are more than twice as expensive as in other countries, according to a study by the Swiss price watchdog.
Nature should not figure in net zero calculations: academic study
This content was published on
The natural removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by forests or oceans should not be included in the net-zero balance of climate protection measures, argue researchers.
This content was published on
None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.
This content was published on
Nestlé's new CEO Laurent Freixe, has presented plans for the future of the world's largest food company, after his first few weeks in office.
Swiss foreign minister calls on Moscow to end Ukraine war
This content was published on
It's high time Moscow ended its war against Ukraine, Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis tells the UN Security Council.
This content was published on
The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.
Study reveals food culture differences between Switzerland and neighbours
This content was published on
Three-quarters of Swiss people consider eating to be a pleasurable, social activity, a new survey reveals. Healthy eating, however, plays a much less important role, it found.
This content was published on
VIOZ president Mahmoud El Guindi said in an interview with the German-language SonntagsZeitung newspaper, “We are shocked that an imam in one of our houses of prayer called for violence.” The imam at the An’Nur mosque in Winterthur, north of Zurich is accused of having called on worshippers to murder other Muslims who refused to…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.