The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has severely condemned the ban on the construction of minarets within a resolution against the defamation of religion. Though Switzerland was not explicitly named, it is the only country in the world to have banned minarets. Consequently, this represents the first acknowledgement by the UN of the adoption of…
After eight years of detention in Guantanamo Bay, Arkin Mahmud and Bahtiyar Mahnut were sent to Switzerland to resettle, the Justice Department announced. Switzerland decision to accommodate the brothers led the US Supreme Court to back from a case on Uighur detainees in Guantanamo. The case dealt with detainees to be released while they have…
The president of the Coordination of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland, Farhad Afshar, has called for a legal solution on the federal level with respect to the question of separate burial grounds for Muslims. This comes following the rejection by authorities in Köniz, a suburb of Bern, to create separate cemetery plots for Muslims. Afshar has…
This article introduces us to Sara and Fzilat: two sisters born and raised in Zurich, who live according to the Qur’an, wear a headscarf and attend the University of Zurich. Pakistan, the land of their parents, they barely know – their homeland is Switzerland. Neither one of the girls is afraid to speak about their…
During a speech in Benghazi on Thursday, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi characterized Switzerland as a country of “unbelievers” and “apostates.” Playing off of the recent referendum that banned minarets, he claimed that Islamic houses of worship were being destroyed in Switzerland, and before a crowd of thousands called for “a Jihad using all means.” He…
