ZURICH (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors in Switzerland have accused a man of running a “media agency” to promote Al-Qaeda and Daesh via social media and raising money to help escape attempts by supporters of the terrorist groups.
The 26-year-old man, who lived in the northern canton of Schaffhausen, is also accused of encouraging another person to go to the Middle East to join the terrorists, which are banned in Switzerland.
The citizen, who has not been named, has been indicted following an investigation launched in October 2019, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said on Tuesday.
“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 the Daesh and of having furthered this person’s decision to travel to territory held by the Daesh and to join the Daesh there,” the OAG said in a statement.
This person, who lived in Austria, was arrested by the Austrian authorities shortly before his planned departure for Syria, the OAG said.
The suspect was also accused of operating his own ‘media agency’ translating and spreading propaganda from Daesh and Al-Qaeda.
He had also saved numerous files with videos and pictures showing banned representations of acts of violence and had sent one such image to another person, the OAG said.
The OAG also accuses the suspect of providing material support to Daesh by collecting money via a donation platform. He allegedly intended to send the cash to Daesh 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 OAG said.