Refugee hate preacher received $620K in social benefits in Switzerland – media
A Libyan immigrant who called on Allah to “destroy” non-Muslims during his prayer in a Swiss mosque claimed $620,000 in social benefits for over a decade from a predominantly Christian state, local media report.
In his hate speech, Abu Ramadan called on Allah “to destroy the enemies of our religion,” Switzerland’s SRF broadcaster reported, citing an audio recording in its possession.
The “enemies” according to the preacher included “Jews, Christians, Hindus, Russians and the Shia [branch of Islam].”
Yet, Ramadan received some 600,000 Swiss francs ($620,000) in social benefits from the Swiss government over the last 13 years, according to research conducted by the Rundschau program of SRF and the Tages Anzeiger newspaper.
According to the newspaper, the man came to seek refuge in Switzerland in 1998 after he fled his homeland, explaining that he’d been pursued by authorities for spreading religious propaganda for the Muslim Brotherhood.
With political asylum granted and a residence permit, the 64-year-old Ramadan hardly ever worked, instead living on social payments from 2004 until 2017.
Ramadan, who can barely speak French or German according to news outlets, is said have preached in small towns of Biel and Neuchâtel, as well appeared on the Libyan Islamic channel, Tanaush TV.
In addition, research claims to have found his pictures at luxury hotels, made when he accompanied pilgrims to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
Through a statement by his lawyer, the preacher claimed to Tages Anzeiger that he respects other religions. "Love, tolerance and generosity are my guideline in my relations with Muslims and non-Muslims," the statement reads.
However, according to the tape obtained by the Swiss outlets, he also preached that “a person who befriends a disbeliever is cursed until the Day of Judgment.” In fact, the man apparently never studied theology and also denied being an imam, the newspaper says.
Social welfare official Christian Hauri said his department had no “means to research our clients.” But the head of the social and security department of the city of Biel, Beat Feurer, believes the imam should be deported. “This is someone who does not call directly for jihad but creates the mental breeding ground for it,” says the Swiss-Tunisian rights activist, Saida Keller-Messahli.
Last year, Denmark discovered that dozens of its citizens who left for Syria and Iraq to fight alongside Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) continued to receive social benefits at home. In total, the jihadists received the hefty sum of 672,000 kroner (around $94,500) from municipalities and state-subsidized funds.
The situation was blamed on a lack of awareness in the municipalities and the sluggishness of the country’s intelligence services, who failed to issue a warning about the dangerous individuals.
Moreover, the British housing and child welfare system has unwittingly “supplied” terrorists with “hundreds of thousands of pounds,” a former independent reviewer of UK terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile, claimed last year.
“[Such activity] has increased during the rise of ISIS. Certainly, the government should ensure that there is no more triage available when housing benefits recipients are known to have gone to another country,” Carlile said.
The travel expenses of the terrorists who organized the 2016 Brussels bombings, which killed 32 and injured some 300, were partially funded by falsely claimed British social benefits, a UK criminal investigation discovered.
