Gaddafi in call for Jihad against Switzerland

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has urged Muslims around the world to take part in a Jihad against Switzerland. His call is based upon the ban on the building of minarets in the European country.

Colonel Gaddafi, brought to power by a military coup in 1969, was speaking on Thursday in Benghazi, a coastal city in eastern Libya, when he issued his call for a Jihad against Switzerland. France 24/AFP reports that the speech made by the Libyan leader was to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed and was broadcast live on TV. The Colonel is quoted as saying:

It is against unbelieving and apostate Switzerland that jihad (holy war) ought to be proclaimed by all means.

Jihad against Switzerland, against Zionism, against foreign aggression is not terrorism.

Any Muslim around the world who has dealings with Switzerland is an infidel (and is) against Islam, against Mohammed, against God, against the Koran

He explained too that:

The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all harbours and prevent any Swiss ships docking, inspect all shops and markets to stop any Swiss goods being sold

While Gaddafi appears to be basing his argument for Jihad on the vote in Switzerland in November which brought about a ban on the building of minarets in the country, the tension between the countries is rooted in an incident two years ago. In 2008 Gaddafi's son Hannibal, and his wife, were detained by Swiss authorities for a brief time after two domestic servants accused the couple, at the time staying in a hotel in Geneva, of abuse. Reprisals for the arrests followed, with the Guardian reporting that Gaddafi withdrew money from Swiss bank accounts, shut down Swiss businesses in Libya and canceled many flights between the two countries. Two Swiss businessmen, Rashid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, were arrested by the Libyan authorities and accused of illegal business activities and staying in the North African country after their visas had expired. Mr Hamdani was finally allowed to leave Libya this week but Mr Goeldi, who had been sheltering in the Swiss embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli, has now begun a four-month jail sentence after handing himself in to the authorities. A further escalation of the row between Libya and Switzerland in recent weeks saw the latter country prevent Colonel Gaddafi and 179 other Libyan officials from obtaining visas for the 25 European countries within the Schengen area. Libyan authorities responded by banning citizens from Schengen Area countries from entering their country. According to the Times of Malta two Maltese citizens, and others from Italy and Germany - Italy is says the Guardian a critic of Switzerland's ban on visas for the Libyan officials and Malta opposes the Swiss action also - were turned away when attempting to enter Libya on Thursday. Colonel Gaddafi once called for the UN to, in the words of the Guardian, "abolish Switzerland and divide it between Germany, France and Italy". But his call for Jihad has not been welcomed by the UN's Director-General, Sergei Ordzhonikidze. The Russian diplomat is said by AFP to have commented:

I believe that such declarations on the part of the head of state are inadmissible in international relations

Home to some 400,000 Muslims, reportedly of mainly Turkish and Balkan descent, Switzerland has approximately 200 mosques, four of them with minarets. Opposed by the Swiss government and criticized by many in the international community, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the ban on the construction of minarets resulted from a petition for a referendum started by the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and its allies.