Calling for the arrest of the founder of the Intifada electronic website, they say that “the climate surrounding freedom of expression in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic.”
United Nations human rights experts and activists have condemned the arrest of a prominent Palestinian journalist in the Swiss city of Zurich, saying it raised concerns about freedom of expression.
Ali Abunimah – the executive director of the online publication Electronic Intifada which calls itself “Palestine’s weapon of mass education” – was arrested by Swiss police on Saturday before her speech in Zurich, the site said Web in a press release.
Swiss police confirmed that the 53-year-old American citizen had been arrested. They cited an entry ban and said new measures under its immigration law were being considered.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, called the arrest “shocking news” and urged Switzerland to investigate and publish it in an article on the platform of social media X Sunday.
“The climate surrounding freedom of expression in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned,” said Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories.
I share the shock and the desire for a rapid investigation into this issue. The climate surrounding freedom of expression in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we all need to be concerned.
– Francesca Albanese, an OPT Special Rapporteur (@Franceskalbs) January 26, 2025
Pro-Palestinian advocacy group Swiss Action for Human Rights launched a petition to publish Abunimah on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Bern said it was providing appropriate consular assistance after seeing reports of the arrest of a U.S. citizen, declining further comment.
Abunimah’s arrest came a day after she arrived in Zurich for a speaking tour, Electronic Intifada said in a statement.
“He is currently detained and has had access to legal counsel,” he said on Saturday. “When he arrived at Zurich airport on Friday, Abunimah was questioned by police for an hour before being allowed to enter the country.”
Describing the arrest as a “growing backlash by Western governments against expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the website noted that several activists and journalists had been arrested, attacked or charged using “counterterrorism” powers in UK last year.
They included Asa Winstanley, associate editor at Electronic Intifada, whose home was attacked and computers and phones seized, he said, adding that Winstanley has not been charged with any crime.
“Speaking out against injustice in Palestine is not a crime. Journalism is not a crime,” the website said.
At a solidarity demonstration for Palestine on Saturday in Geneva, demonstrators said Abunimah’s arrest “had no legal basis.”
“He is being defamed by Zurich Media,” said one of the speakers. “We have freedom of expression in Switzerland. It’s a constitutional right,” she said, calling the arrest “unacceptable.”
“We support Ali Abunimah, all Palestinian human rights activists and activists,” she said.