Imam in Switzerland Urged Burning of Muslims Who Don’t Pray, Prosecutors Say
11, 2017
BERLIN — The Swiss authorities have charged an imam from Ethiopia with inciting violence by calling
in a sermon for local Muslims who refused to pray to be burned alive, prosecutors said on Friday.
The man, who was not further identified, in keeping with Swiss privacy law, is charged with calling in a sermon in October for the denunciation of Muslims
in the community who did not pray, "and for those who continue to refuse to do so to be killed by burning them in their homes," prosecutors said.
Prosecutors in Zurich said in a statement that their colleagues in Winterthur, where the mosque
was, had charged him on Aug. 2 with calling for violence and violating immigration law.
The imam also faces charges of violating immigration law by working in the country in
that role for more than four weeks without the requisite permit, prosecutors said.
Switzerland has been seeking to integrate the 450,000 Muslims living in the country and, like many of its European neighbors, has been
trying to strike a balance between allowing them freedom of religious practice while encouraging them to accept Western norms.
Switzerland has been spared the terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists
that have hit European countries like Britain, France and Germany, but the Swiss authorities have nonetheless been accused of failing to clamp down swiftly and strongly on radicals.