Swiss prosecutors accuse man of promoting ISIS and Al Qaeda

Turkish man accused of supporting Al Qaeda and ISIS on social media and raising money

The icons of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp can be seen on the screen of a smartphone in Kempten, Germany, Monday, October 4, 2021. AP

A Turkish citizen was accused by Swiss prosecutors on Tuesday of running a "media agency" to promote Al Qaeda and ISIS on social media, and raising money to help escape attempts by supporters of the extremist groups.

The man, 26, who lived in the northern canton of Schaffhausen, is also accused of encouraging another person to go to the Middle East to join the organisations, which are banned in Switzerland.

The Office of the Attorney General has not identified the man, who was indicted after an investigation was launched in October 2019.

"The OAG accuses the suspect of having encouraged a person who was a minor at the time of the crime to approve of the ideology of [ISIS] and of having furthered this person's decision to travel to territory held by the IS and to join the IS there," the office said.

The minor, who lived in Austria, was arrested by authorities shortly before his planned departure for Syria, it said.

The suspect was also accused of operating an agency that translated and spread propaganda from ISIS and Al Qaeda.

Iraqi police sent to protect farmers from ISIS - in pictures

Iraqi Federal Police are sent into agricultural areas in Kirkuk province to protect farmers harvesting wheat, a day after extremists killed six as they worked in their fields. Photos: Iraqi Federal Police

Iraqi authorities said ISIS was responsible for killing the harvest workers in Kirkuk and the extremists were emboldened by the cover of dust storms sweeping the country.

The Iraqi authorities say tracking the killers of the farmers from the air was difficult as dust restricted visibility and helicopters are vulnerable to sand and dust.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry sent Federal Police to Kirkuk province. ISIS claimed it killed five Shiites who were harvesting wheat.

Iraqi Federal Police are sent to Kirkuk to protect field workers harvesting wheat. The killing of farmers is not new. Some attacks are blamed on extremist groups, while others appeared to have been the result of vendettas.

Iraqi Federal Police on duty in Kirkuk after farmers were killed. President Barham Salih says the attacks were “villainous attempts to strike at stability and security”.

The job of security forces in Iraq has been made harder by extremes of weather. Videos shared by agencies on social media show soldiers near the Syria border struggling to cope with heavy dust storms.

He had also saved files with videos and pictures showing banned representations of acts of violence and had sent one such image to another person, the office said.

It also accuses the suspect of providing material support to ISIS by collecting money through a donations platform.

He allegedly intended to send the cash to ISIS supporters in a prison camp in Syria to enable them to escape.

The case has now been referred to the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, the office said.

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