Switzerland Releases, Deports Renowned Palestinian Journalist Ali Abunimah

By Staff, Agencies

Swiss officials have freed and deported prominent Palestinian American journalist Ali Abunimah, whom they arrested in the city of Zurich and held in police custody for three days, raising concerns about freedom of speech in the European country.

Abunimah, executive director of the online Electronic Intifada publication covering the "Israeli"-Palestinian conflict, confirmed his release in a post published on the X social media platform on Monday.

He said Swiss authorities detained him because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights.

“My ‘crime’? Being a journalist who speaks up for Palestine and against "Israel’s" genocide and settler-colonial savagery and those who aid and abet it,” the Palestinian American journalist wrote.

He was arrested in Zurich on Saturday before he was set to deliver a speech in the city. UN human rights experts and activists condemned the arrest.

The Reuters news agency, citing the Swiss police, said on Sunday that an entry ban and other measures under the country’s immigration law were the reason for Abunimah’s arrest.

The 53-year-old journalist said that when he was questioned by police officers, they accused him of “offending against Swiss law,” without providing specific charges.

He was confined to a cell 24/7, unable to communicate with the outside world, and only received his phone at the gate of his flight to Istanbul.

Switzerland welcomed "Israeli" President Isaac Herzog to the World Economic Forum in Davos during his time in prison, as noted by Abunimah.

UN experts denounced Abunimah’s detention as an assault on free speech.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, also called for an investigation into the incident.

“The climate surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned,” Albanese wrote in a social media post.

The detention of Abunimah took place against the backdrop of intensified restrictions on pro-Palestinian advocates in Europe, amidst the catastrophic war on Gaza.