Government to investigate 33 cases of suspected Islamism

November 22, 2015 1:35 PM

He did not mention any potential connection to the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris.

Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber addresses a news conference on Swiss criminal proceedings regarding the allocation of the FIFA World Cup tournaments in 2018 and 2022 at the Conference of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) in Zurich, Switzerland September 14, 2015.

Switzerland is looking into 33 criminal cases tied to Islamist terror, its attorney general was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

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The attorney general, Michael Lauber, gave no details and did not specify any particular threat.

"The office of the attorney general is currently investigating 33 criminal cases linked to Islamist terror," Lauber told the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

"We are mainly investigating whether there has been any support to a criminal organisation, but also whether the so-called anti-Islamic State law has been infringed," he said.

A report by a Swiss task force published earlier this month mentioned criminal investigations in about two dozen cases.

In 2014, Switzerland passed a law banning Islamist groups such as al Qaeda and Islamic State.