BERN: Switzerland is seeking to expel an Egyptian Islamist accused of publishing race hate material hostile to the country, a federal police spokesman said on Sunday. The Swiss foreign ministry is looking for a country to receive Mohammed Al-Ghanam, a former Cairo police colonel living in Switzerland as a political refugee, spokesman Guido Balmer said, confirming an earlier media report. Ghanam is accused of publishing hate messages on Internet sites linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network and of sending letters to Swiss authorities, politicians and media containing hate messages. Switzerland is regarded with contempt among the enemies of Islam, Ghanam wrote in a message published on several sites. Switzerland cannot return Ghanam to Egypt since it granted him political refugee status in 2001 after he fled the North African country, where he was wanted for denouncing corruption and human rights abuses. Last year the justice ministry judged that Ghanam did not pose a terrorist threat, but Balmer said authorities had now decided to expel him since Ghanam s messages could influence others and encourage Islamic radicalism. AFP
Switzerland seeks to expel Islamist for anti-Swiss hate campaign
