Swiss federal police opposed Ali Abunimah entry ban, files reveal

Police, immigration and intelligence services said journalist posed no “security” risk.

First published by The Electronic Intifada

Ali Abunimah (courtesy of Ali Abunimah)

Swiss federal authorities rejected a request to ban Ali Abunimah from entering the country, official documents seen by The Electronic Intifada show.

But this decision was hastily overturned, possibly due to political interference.

As a consequence, The Electronic Intifada’s executive director was abducted without warning by undercover police off a Zurich street while on his way to give a talk about Palestine last month.

The journalist was detained for three days without being allowed to contact his family and then expelled from the country.

The request to ban Abunimah was submitted to Switzerland’s national authorities by the Zurich cantonal police.

But even before Abunimah arrived in Switzerland, federal police, immigration authorities and the national intelligence service all concluded that Abunimah was not a threat to Swiss security and that there were no grounds for a ban.

Posts on Abunimah’s X account were “protected by freedom of speech,” the federal police, or Fedpol, wrote in a confidential assessment.

Despite all three federal agencies rejecting a ban, Zurich authorities reiterated their request the next day.

In an email to Fedpol, the Zurich cantonal police claimed that Abunimah’s planned speaking events were “likely to stir up the listeners or the local environment to such an extent that a severe risk to security might be concretely caused by misled individuals.”

Ban imposed after entry

“We request once more that an entry ban against Ali Abunimah be issued,” the police wrote.

But by then, Abunimah had already entered the country.

The email is dated Friday, 24 January, 5:01 pm. Abunimah’s flight had already landed in Zurich hours earlier, around 1:40 pm local time, and he received an entry stamp on his passport at the airport soon after.

Fedpol’s initial decision rejecting a ban was then reversed. At some point that same day, Fedpol issued the entry ban. The following day, Saturday 25 January, the day Abunimah was arrested, Fedpol also issued an expulsion order.

During a police hearing following his arrest, Abunimah was served with the entry ban and expulsion order and told they were issued because he constituted “a threat to the internal and external security of Switzerland.”

Abunimah was effectively kidnapped by undercover police, then held without charge.

He was locked in a cell for 24 hours per day and prohibited from contacting his family. Except after his arrest and once more on the day he was deported, Abunimah was not permitted to see or speak to his lawyer during his detention, despite his repeated requests.

On Sunday 26 January, as Abunimah recounted on The Electronic Intifada Livestream, he was taken from the cell to meet with Swiss intelligence officers who attempted to question him without notifying or summoning his lawyer and without allowing him to contact her.

Abunimah was taken to the airport by police and kept in their custody until he was deported on the evening of Monday 27 January.

It is unclear why this U-turn was made, but political pressure appears likely to be a factor.

Switzerland is governed under a federal system, where the 26 individual cantons – or member states – wield authority over most areas of domestic policy. The federal government’s powers include national defense, foreign affairs and control over the country’s external borders.

The Zurich cantonal police first requested that Fedpol ban Abunimah from entering the country on 22 January.

An “evaluation” document prepared by the Zurich cantonal police dated the same day states that Abunimah’s X account is “peppered with Palestinian victim narratives.” It also accuses him of “anti-Semitism” based on tweets about the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Fedpol in turn asked for the view of SEM, the Swiss federal migration authority and of the Federal Intelligence Service (or NDB, to use its German acronym).

The latter responded that “the Federal Intelligence Service (NDB) has no information that could be used to support an entry ban.” The SEM similarly stated that “we see no reasons that would justify an entry ban … he does not appear to have committed criminal acts.”

Fedpol relayed these two responses to the Zurich cantonal police on 23 January and stated its own view: “Fedpol does not assess the appearance of Ali Abunimah as a risk to the internal or external security [of Switzerland], and consequently does not order an entry ban.”

“Not substantiated”

Fedpol stated that although the Zurich cantonal police assessment was “understandable and complete” it also contained “a plurality of hypotheses” and that it “must be viewed critically.”

Fedpol conducted its own “summary examination of publicly accessible sources” about Abunimah and pushed back against the negative picture of the journalist painted by the Zurich cantonal police.

Fedpol described a claim by the Zurich cantonal police that Abunimah uses the terms “Zionists,” “Jews” and “Israel” interchangeably as being “not substantiated.”

The agency also stated that the view that the “historically grown conflict between Hamas and Israel has been one of the causes of the events of 7 October 2023 is an opinion protected by the freedom of speech, similar to the attribution of the Russian war of aggression to NATO’s eastward expansion.”

With respect to Israel, “the charge of genocide can be expressed and discussed as well, as shown by the International Criminal Court,” Fedpol stated.

Fedpol added that “criticism of Western states or the rejection of their positions and actions is not an endeavor against the values of democracy and the rule of law.”

In short, Fedpol rejected all the grounds put forward by the Zurich cantonal police for a ban on Abunimah.

“It is the task of the state not merely to tolerate the guaranteed pluralism of opinions, but to protect it,” Fedpol concluded. “As long as no concrete violent extremist activities threaten the security of Switzerland, no entry bans can be issued under the authority of Fedpol.”

Pro-Israel pressure?

Yet the very next day the entry ban was issued based on the same faulty assessment from the Zurich cantonal police that Fedpol had just rejected.

Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported on Tuesday that email correspondence between an airport police officer and the Zurich immigration authorities suggests that pressure may have come from a senior pro-Israel Zurich politician.

“Mario Fehr and Fedpol were involved,” the police officer wrote.

Fehr is the elected official in charge of security for the canton of Zurich. He regularly attends pro-Israel demonstrations and The Grayzone has described him as a “fanatical pro-Israel activist.”

The day before Abunimah was arrested, Fehr was quoted in Swiss media describing the journalist as “an Islamist Jew-hater who calls for violence” – a false and defamatory characterization refuted by Fedpol’s analysis.

In a response to the Tages-Anzeiger, Fehr declined to talk in detail about his involvement in Abunimah’s case, but said: “Naturally, as with all security-related matters in the canton of Zurich, I am kept in the loop in cases like this.”

In a comment for this article, Abunimah stated: “The unanimous assessments by Fedpol, the Swiss immigration department and the Swiss intelligence service confirm that responsible officials were fully aware that I was never any threat to Switzerland and that the smears and distortions used as a pretext for the abuses against me were false.

“There was no justification to abduct me off the street and throw me in prison. To this day, I have not been informed of the reasons for my arrest,” Abunimah said. “I can only conclude that my unlawful imprisonment was intended to suppress freedom of expression by preventing me from speaking openly about the genocide in Palestine, as well as to punish me for views I’ve expressed in the past that someone in power did not like.”

Global criticism

He added: “I am proceeding with legal action in Switzerland on a number of fronts, to seek accountability for the gross violations of fundamental democratic and human rights to which I was subjected. I want to help ensure they do not happen again to anyone.”

A crowdfunding campaign has been started to help support Abunimah’s legal action.

Abunimah’s detention drew global criticism as well as condemnation from Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression as well as Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Amnesty International’s EU branch said it was “deeply concerned” by Abunimah’s arrest.

The human rights group added that the “global crackdown on those who are critical of Israel’s violations of Palestinians’ human rights is alarming and must be immediately stopped.”

With translation from German by Daniel Shunra.