SWISS COUNTERTERRORISM OVERVIEW - SCENESETTER FOR \

50264 2006-01-20 16:53:00 06BERN141 Embassy Bern CONFIDENTIAL 05BERN1865|06BERN10|06BERN100 VZCZCXRO7442\ PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR\ DE RUEHSW #0141/01 0201653\ ZNY CCCCC ZZH\ P 201653Z JAN 06\ FM AMEMBASSY BERN\ TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1431\ INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY\ RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC PRIORITY\ RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY\ RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY\ RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2436\ RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BERN 000141 \ \ SIPDIS \ \ SIPDIS \ \ STATE FOR S/CT, EB, EUR/AGS \ FBI FOR OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS \ TREASURY FOR OFAC \ \ E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2016 \ TAGS: PTER PARM ETTC SZ SUBJECT: SWISS COUNTERTERRORISM OVERVIEW - SCENESETTER FOR \ FBI DIRECTOR MUELLER \ \ REF: A. BERN 100 \ ¶B. BERN 10 \ ¶C. 2005 BERN 1865 \ \ Classified By: Pol/Econ Counselor Eric Sandberg, Reasons 1.4 b/d \ \ 1.(C) Summary: Switzerland and Liechtenstein are considered \ low-threat target for terrorist attacks, but Bern \ acknowledges that Islamist groups could use the country as a \ transit point, logistics center, or haven for terrorist \ finances. While violent crime in both countries is \ relatively low, officials remain concerned about \ international organized criminal groups and extreme \ right-wing and left-wing political elements who occasionally \ mobilize for demonstrations surrounding major events, such as \ the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. Swiss officials \ maintain that there are few Islamic extremists in the \ country, but a small number of arrests in the past two years \ suggests there may be more under the surface. Bilateral law \ enforcement and intelligence cooperation is improving, but at \ a gradual pace; Swiss leaders insist that they can address \ the threat with little outside assistance. The Swiss media \ and individual members of Parliament have placed a greater \ focus on alleged USG wrongdoings in the War on Terror than on \ the terrorist threat itself. As for Liechtenstein, officials \ work very cooperatively with USG counterparts, as they seek \ to ameliorate their reputation as a money-laundering center. \ End Summary. \ \ Anti-Terror Measures \ -------------- \ \ 2.(U) Switzerland implemented UN sanctions even prior to \ becoming a full member in 2002. Along with UN lists, the \ Swiss Economic and Finance ministries have drawn up their own \ list of around 44 individuals and entities connected with \ international terrorism (Al-Qaeda) or its financing. Swiss \ authorities have thus far blocked about 82 accounts totaling \ $28 million (SFr 34 million) from individuals or companies \ linked to Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda under UN resolutions. \ The Swiss Federal Prosecutor also froze separately 41 \ accounts representing about $28 million (SFr 34 millions) on \ the ground they were related to terrorist financing. Swiss \ officials estimate significant overlap between the US and UN \ lists. Switzerland signed and ratified all of the 12 UN \ anti-terrorism conventions as of September 2003. \ \ 3.(U) For its part, Liechtenstein has frozen about $145 \ thousand in Taliban/Al-Qaeda assets under UNSC Resolution \ ¶1267. The principality has taken notable strides to combat \ money laundering and other illegal activity since 1999; it \ joined the Egmont Group in 2001, signed a mutual legal \ assistance treaty with the United States in 2003, and was \ FATF certified that same year. Liechtenstein has also \ ratified all of the relevant UN conventions. \ \ Bilateral Cooperation \ -------------- \ \ 4.(C) Following 9/11, the Swiss agreed to sign an operative \ working agreement (OWA) with the USG permitting intensified \ information sharing on Al-Qaeda and allowing an FBI agent to \ sit in the Federal Criminal Police Counterterrorism Unit. We \ are in the final stages of negotiating a broadened OWA to \ allow joint investigations on counterterrorism matters. As \ forthcoming as some contacts are, the Swiss law enforcement \ community in general remain reluctant to open up to the \ United States. The sentiment was expressed best by Justice \ Minister Blocher to the Ambassador. Blocher said that \ Switzerland shared America's counterterrorism goals; \ Switzerland will worry about Switzerland, and the U.S. can \ worry about the rest of the world. The least cooperative \ Swiss agency (with us and with other Swiss agencies) is the \ Federal Service for Analysis and Prevention (DAP) -- the \ internal intelligence service. The external service, under \ the Swiss Department of Defense, is more cooperative. \ \ 5.(C) In many ways, Liechtenstein officials are a model of \ what we wish the Swiss would become. Shocked by the \ international notoriety it earned in the 1990s, officials in \ the tiny principality decided to join FATF and cooperate with \ partners. The MLAT it signed with the United States in 2003 \ \ BERN 00000141 002 OF 004 \ \ \ was the first of its kind for Liechtenstein. They make as \ much use of it as do our law enforcement agencies. \ \ Significant counterterrorism investigations \ -------------- \ \ 6.(C) Swiss prosecutors have launched several investigations \ of suspected Al-Qaeda operatives in Switzerland. As yet, \ prosecutors have had unimpressive results. \ \ -- September 11: The 9/11 attacks resulted in greater \ external intelligence and police cooperation between the \ United States and Switzerland, as well as with Liechtenstein. \ After a significant delay, the Swiss agreed to share phone \ records from Al-Qaeda operatives using anonymous Swisscom \ phones. The use of these phones by terrorists prompted the \ Parliament two years later to require identification \ documents for Swisscom subscribers. \ \ -- Al-Taqwa: In December 2001, Switzerland froze the assets \ of Al-Taqwa Management, a financial services firm accused by \ the United States of helping to fund Al-Qaeda. Swiss police \ raided Al-Taqwa's offices and froze the assets of its board \ members. In March 2005, managing director Youssef Nada \ lodged an appeal with the Federal Criminal Court to have \ charges dropped for lack of evidence of criminal wrongdoing. \ Nada acknowledged that he was an Islamic activist and member \ of the Muslim Brotherhood, but denied he was connected to \ terrorist financing. The Swiss Federal Prosecutor, \ frustrated by the lack of cooperation from Bahamian \ authorities regarding aspects of Al-Taqwa's activities there \ and otherwise pessimistic about attaining sufficient evidence \ to convict, dropped the case in June 2005. The Swiss \ government was required to pay legal compensation to Nada. \ \ -- Yassin Qadi: After the United States named Saudi Arabian \ businessman Yassin Qadi a global terrorist and the UN placed \ him under sanctions, Switzerland froze $21 million in Qadi's \ assets held in a Geneva bank. \ \ -- Jerba Bombing: Since the Jerba Bombings in April 2002, \ Swiss officials have been investigating the whereabouts of a \ Swiss citizen, Mohamed Ben Hedi, who had been secretary of \ the Salah Islamic Center in Biel. \ \ -- Riyadh Bombings: As a result of investigations following \ the May 2003 bombings in Riyadh, Swiss police in January 2004 \ arrested ten Muslims who were suspected of providing \ logistical support for the attacks. The remaining three \ suspects were released on their own recognizance in late 2005. \ \ -- Madrid Bombings: In the fall of 2004, Spanish police \ identified Mohamed Achraf -- a rejected asylum seeker in \ Switzerland awaiting deportation -- as the suspected \ ringleader of a Salafist group "Martyrs of Morocco" that was \ plotting to bomb the Spanish High Court. News of the Spanish \ investigation surprised Zurich cantonal police, who had not \ been informed by the Swiss internal service, DAP. Achraf was \ deported to Spain in January 2005. \ \ -- Internet Incitement: In March, 2005, Swiss authorities \ arrested Malika Al-Aroed, charging her and her husband, Moez \ Garsallaoui, a "Tunisian fundamentalist," with "posting \ manuals for the manufacture of bombs," as well as "images of \ murder" on the website www.islamic-minibar.com. According to \ press reports, Al-Aroed had been acquitted in Brussels in \ 2003 of charges that she was involved in the attack on Afghan \ opposition leader Ahmad Shah Mas'ud. The presiding judge \ there had called her a "dangerous extremist." Another \ Islamist of Egyptian origin, Muhammed Al-Ghanam, was \ apprehended using the Geneva University server to spread \ extremist messages, but was not arrested. \ \ -- Yeslam Bin Ladin: In August 2005, the Swiss Federal Court \ halted Swiss legal assistance to a French investigation of \ two companies owned by Yeslam Bin Ladin (Osama's half \ brother) after an appeal by the companies. \ \ Muslims in Switzerland \ -------------- \ \ 7.(U) The Muslim population in Switzerland has grown rapidly \ \ BERN 00000141 003.2 OF 004 \ \ \ in the last two decades, now reaching around 310,000, or 4.3 \ percenQ the Swiss population. The majority of these, \ roughly 200,000, come from former Yugoslavia and tend to be \ moderate or secular in their views. Another 70,000 are of \ Turkish background, have long been in Switzerland, and are \ also moderate. Only the North African population, largely \ from Morocco, are seen as a possible source of Islamic \ extremism. There are no Islamic political parties in \ Switzerland; the Muslim population is divided along ethnic \ lines. There are only two mosque buildings in SwitzerlandQn \ Zurich aQeneva),but over a hundred makeshift Islamic \ centers operate. \ \ 8.(SBU) While Swiss authorities recognize that the Muslim \ population could contain extremists, they rate the threat \ from right-wing Neo-nazis and left-wing Swiss political \ extremists as being much higher. Swiss authorities believe \ that those Islamists present consider the country a "refuge" \ rather than a "place to carry out operations." A Special \ Report on Extremism issued late last year maintains that \ almost all radical groups represented in Switzerland are \ Sunni organizations whose primary goals are the establishment \ of Islamic governments in their homelands. \ The principal groups in this category are En Nahdha, the \ Tunisian Islamic Front, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic \ Salvation Front (FIS),the Armed Islamic Group (GIA),the \ Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC),Hamas, \ Hizbollah and Al-Takfir wal-Hijra. \ \ 9.(C) The best known Islamists in Switzerland are the \ Ramadans, Tariq and Hani, of the Islamic Center in Geneva. \ Tariq Ramadan, formerly a professor of philosophy and \ grandson of Muslim Brotherhood found Hassan al-Bana, is \ well-known throughout Europe. He is sometimes hailed as a \ moderate, at other times attacked as a wolf in sheep's \ clothing, putting a palatable front to fundamentalist \ activities. Offered a teaching position at Notre Dame \ University in 2004, his visa was revoked by DHS, and he \ withdrew a subsequent application. The UK Government has \ included Ramadan in an advisory body to assist in their \ outreach efforts with its Muslim minority. \ \ 10.(U) Hani Ramadan was suspended from his duties as a public \ school teacher in the fall of 2002, following the publication \ of an article in the French newspaper "Le Monde," in which he \ spoke out in favor of the stoning of adulterers. He was \ dismissed in 2003, following an administrative investigation, \ but he successfully appealed the decision. However, \ following a second investigation, the Geneva Cantonal \ Government confirmed Ramadan's dismissal and removed him from \ the cantonal payroll in December 2004. In October 2005, the \ Swiss Justice Ministry denied a work permit to a Turkish Imam \ invited to work at the Islamic Center in Geneva, due to the \ Imam's extremist views. \ \ Swiss Media Push-back on the War on Terrorism \ -------------- - \ \ 11.(C) Since the Washington Post claimed in early November \ 2005 that the United States was operating hidden prisons in \ Europe, the Swiss media has gone full bore in identifying USG \ sins, real and imagined. Any news on Guantanamo or Abu \ Ghraib is guaranteed front-page treatment, whereas Al-Qaeda \ attacks are relegated to the back pages. Of particular \ concern is the issue of overflights by alleged CIA charter \ planes. Italian prosecutors allege that a U.S. military jet \ traversed Swiss airspace on the day Milan cleric Abu Omar was \ kidnapped. The Swiss government has repeatedly asked the USG \ to explain the flight and four charter plane landings at \ Geneva Airport. Washington has yet to respond. \ \ 12.(C) Recently, a Swiss tabloid published a leaked Swiss \ intelligence report of an intercept of an Egyptian government \ fax. The Swiss Federal Council has condemned the leak and \ its subsequent publication, and the government has launched \ administrative and criminal investigations into the matter. \ The intercepted Egyptian fax claimed that the Egyptian \ government knew of 23 Iraqi and Afghani prisoners transferred \ by the USG to prisons in Romania and other Eastern European \ countries. Swiss officials apologized to Ambassador \ Willeford for the leak and for the press's overreaction to \ it. The Ambassador cautioned officials that Switzerland's \ \ BERN 00000141 004 OF 004 \ \ \ obsession with the prisons/overflight matter -- driven in \ significant measure by Swiss Senator Dick Marty -- risked \ overwhelming Washington's perceptions of Switzerland. Marty, \ acting in his capacity as head of the Council of Europe \ Parliamentary Assembly's Justice Commission and not in any \ official Swiss government capacity, greeted the information \ cautiously, but criticized the Swiss and other European \ governments for not disclosing information on the prisoner \ issue. \ \ Comment \ -------------- \ \ 13.(C) Comment: Despite being somewhat shaken by attacks in \ London and Madrid, the Swiss internal security service \ continues to assess that Switzerland is relatively safe and \ that there is no evidence yet of any activity beyond \ logistical support for Islamic extremists. Swiss opinion \ leaders among the Parliament and media exhibit little evident \ concern about the terrorist threat to Switzerland, perhaps \ contributing to their tendency to focus their criticism on \ the USG reaction, rather than the initial threat itself. \ Embassy engagement with Swiss counterparts, reinforced by \ senior-level visits by USG officials, are helping to move the \ Swiss to be more forthcoming on information sharing and joint \ investigations. Absent a direct attack on Swiss interests, \ however, the process is liable to move very gradually. End \ comment. \ Willeford \