Libya calls on Malta to leave the Schengen area, “another form of colonialism”
Malta issues temporary visas to Libyans to avoid Swiss ban
Update 2 13:00 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss-German media SF has obtained a copy of court papers filed 16 March by canton Geneva showing it agrees to compensate Hannibal Qadaffi, the son of Libya’s leader, and to offer an apology for a leak from the police department. The canton has not officially confirmed or denied the report, in line with its notice in February 2010 that it would not issue any statements until Max Goeldi, a Swiss businessman serving a four-month prison term in Libya, is free. (Ed. note: the canton is holding a press conference at 16:00 as a result of the SF revelation)
The leak to which the court papers refer allowed “unflattering” photos of the man to be published in the Tribune de Genève newspaper after he was arrested in the city in July 2008. The papers filed by the canton, seen by Swiss news agency ATS, note that since it is clear the leak came from a state employee, the cantonmust take some responsibility. It asks the court to determine the share of responsibility and costs to be borne by the Tribune. It also insists that the Tribune must publish the court decision, at its own cost.
Libya has demanded that the European Union also apologize, for not issuing visas to some of its citizens, Spanish newspaper El Pais reports Libyan ambassador to Spain, Ageli Abdussalam Breni, as saying.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Amnesty International’s Swiss branch, which has maintained contact with Swiss businessman Max Goeldi, sentenced to four months in prison in Libya for visa irregularities, is in poor condition, the group told news agency ATS Monday 15 March. His lawyer made a similar statement Sunday. Goeldi initially saw his prison detention as a temporary state while request for clemency was pending, says Amnesty, but Libya’s judicial system has not yet reviewed his case.
Goeldi’s mental state has deteriorated rapidly since he left the Swiss embassy in February, where he had been living for more than 18 months while awaiting sentencing.
Amnesty International a week ago handed Libya 14,000 signatures asking for the country to release the prisoner.
Update 17 March Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Libya is offering a public relations lesson in how to stay in the news, with measures unveiled almost daily for the past two weeks, to increase pressure on Switzerland to resolve the two countries’ diplomatic feud. By Friday 12 March Google alone was carrying 49.5 million entries with “Libya, Switzerland”.
Update: Tuesday 16 March Libyan Ambassador to Spain Ageli Abdussalam Breni demanded that the European Union apologize for not approving visas to Libyans on the Swiss black list.
The latest came Thursday 11 March when the Libyan ambassador to the UN in Geneva again called for Switzerland to end its ban on a number of its leaders entering the Schengen area. The previous day Libya’s ambassador to the UN in New York made a similar speech. Both events have received enormous international media coverage with headlines about rising tensions, although neither of the men’s calls contained anything new.
Libyan ambassadors have also called in the press in other European countries to argue Libya’s stance. And shortly before that Libya threatened the US if an official did not apologize for a remark taken as offensive (he did).
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The family of Swiss businessman Max Goeldi, serving a four-month prison sentence in Libya, has appealed to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi to release the man. The demand for clemency follows a visit in prison to Goeldi by Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the leader. The visit has given the family some hope that Goeldi will be released sooner, Moritz Goeldi, brother of Max, said Tuesday 2 March on Swiss German public television.
His mother, who celebrated her 80th birthday Monday 1 March, is having a hard time understanding why her son is unable to come home, says Moritz, who noted that Max’s detention in Libya for more than 18 months has been very hard on their mother.
Background, GenevaLunch
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government remains silent on Libya, while Libya appears to want to stay in news headlines this week: leader Muammar Qadaffi’s declaration of a jihad or holy war against Switzerland last week was firmly rebuffed as unacceptably by the United Nations and Swiss Muslim leaders. Reports are coming in that some Libyans have taken it more seriously, and that anywhere from 1,000 t0 2,000 of them, depending on who is reporting, have gathered outside the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli. Security forces are guarding the building.
Meanwhile, Hannibal Qadaffi has visited Max Goeldi in prison in Libya, in the presence of reporters.
EU Council agrees to border measures, including some concerning Libya
Update 23:00 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It took him nearly four months and several bouts of political wrangling with Switzerland, but Muammar Qadaffi, Libya’s leader, Thursday 25 February called for a holy war, or Jihad against Switzerland. The reason: the European nation’s vote in early November 2009 against the construction of new minarets [Ed. note: the vote did not ban minarets, so the existing ones will stay]. Qaddafi was addressing a large crowd from several Muslim countries, before prayers in a Benghazi square.
The Swiss government refused to comment on the Libyan leader’s call to Muslims around the world when asked by Swiss public broadcasting to do so, but Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told a Thursday meeting of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs of the European Union and Schengen Area in Brussels that Switzerland is justified in placing Qadaffi on a black list of people who are not allowed to enter the Schengen Area by way of Switzerland.
Rashid Hamdani, left and Max Goeldi, right, at the Swiss embassy in Tripoli in 2009
Tripoli, Libya (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government remains officially silent but news reports from journalists in Tripoli, including a Reuters reporter, say that Swiss businessman Max Goeldi has surrendered to Libya authorities, to begin a four-month prison sentence. The Swiss will ask for clemency, and if it is granted, Human Rights Watch says, this would be a sign that the political crisis is over between Switzerland and Libya.
Libyan security forces surrounded the Swiss embassy in Tripoli after giving Switzerland a deadline to hand over Goeldi, who has been staying at the embassy. The second Swiss businessman held by Libya but whose charges were recently dropped, Rashid Hamdani from the Lake Geneva region, appears to have been allowed to leave the embassy and is reported to have traveled to Tunisia by car.
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, Amnesty International, Le Temps (Fre), TSR (Fre)
Update 13:50 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal government announced Wednesday 17 February that it will continue the policy begun in November 2009 of restricting visas for Libyans. Italy, France and Malta were calling Tuesday for Switzerland to change its policy, given Libya’s announcement Monday that it would not allow citizens of Schengen countries to cross its border, citing a black list of nearly 200 Libyan officials who have been refused visas.
Swissinfo reports that “Jacques de Watteville, Swiss ambassador to the EU, says Switzerland had rejected just 270 applications for Schengen visas out of 30,000, less than one per cent.” The Swiss government has not confirmed there is a black list.
Swiss officials say they have been in contact with European Union authorities since the start of the restrictions, contrary to remarks made earlier this week by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner when interviewed by TSR, Swiss public television.
German newspaper Deutsche Welle says that Sawsan Chebli, an associate fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations, told the paper, “The EU is Libya’s greatest trade and export partner. This is a leverage the EU could use. However, Italy and other EU member states with close relations with Libya in the past have shown that they are not interested to spoil their relations with Libya whatever Gadhafi’s action may be.
Brussels, Belgium (GenevaLunch) - The European Commission reacted to Libya’s ban on visas for Schengen residents by saying it will meet later in the week to discuss the abrupt decision by Muammar Qadaffi’s government. Cecilia Malmstroem of Sweden, the commissioner for home affairs, provided a more immediate response: “The European Commission deplores the unilateral and disproportionate decision by Libyan authorities to suspend the delivery of visas to EU Schengen countries’ citizens. The commission also regrets that travelers who legally obtained visas before the suspension measure were refused entry when arriving in Libya.”
It is unclear if the move includes diplomats, but there are reports that people arriving in Tripoli with visas are being refused entry at the airport.
The visa ban appears to be in retaliation for an unconfirmed ban on travel to Switzerland, a member of the Schengen area, by close to 200 Libyans. Switzerland has not issued any information along these lines and the Swiss government has refused to confirm the information, which was reported by a Libyan newspaper generally considered close to one of Qadaffi’s sons.
Muammar Qadaffi, Libya’s leader, failed in his bid to win a second term as chairman of the African Union, to Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika. Qadaffi is described by allAfrica after the vote: he “was seen restless and irritated and called an emergency midnight press conference at the summit venue. Qaddafi blasted African leaders and dubbed the AU as a failed institution.” He is now setting his sights on becoming chairman of the Arab League, he told the press conference.
Links to other sites: allAfrica, NY Times, Zambian Watchdog
Tripoli, Libya (GenevaLunch) – Rachid Hamdani, one of two Swiss businessmen who have been held by Libya for 18 months, has reportedly had his prison sentence overturned for staying illegally in the country. He and Max Goldi, the other Swiss, appeared Saturday and Sunday in a court to where appeals in their cases were being heard. The two then returned to the Swiss Embassy, where they have been staying. The Swiss government has confirmed the news.
The two are also charged with illegal business activities, and these charges will be heard again 6 and 7 February, according to Hamdani’s lawyer, reports TSR.
Background, GenevaLunch
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s woes with Libya continue this week, with Tripoli postponing the trials of two Swiss businessmen. The two are to stand trial for visa and tax irregularities, Libya has said. They were arrested shortly after the arrest in Geneva in July 2008 of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the country’s leader. Libya in early January issued a list of reasons why the son should not have been arrested; it continues to argue, as it did in 2008, that he should have received diplomatic immunity.
The son is reported 6 January by Swiss media to have hosted singer Beyoncé for New Year’s Eve festivities at the Nikki Beach Club in Saint-Barthélemy, the Antilles, a week after he avoided police charges in Britain.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi, Hannibal, has acted on his earlier threats to sue the canton of Geneva, the Tribune de Genève newspaper and one of its reporters. The younger Qadaffi filed charges 17 December, the Tribune has learned, against the newspaper and its journalist for publishing in September 2009 unflattering official police shots of the man taken in July 2008 when he was arrested.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The trials on charges of “illegal economic activity” of two Swiss businessmen held in Libya against their will since July 2008, have been postponed till early January, the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs said 20 December. The trial of Max Goeldi, country head for engineering giant ABB, has been set back to 2 January. His countryman Rachid Hamdani’s trial has been scheduled for 3 January.
The two men were sentenced to 16 months prison for visa irregularities and tax evasion in November, and have appealed.
Rachid Hamdani, Max Goeldi, Swiss detained in Libya (©2009 DR / Amnesty International)
Tripoli, Libya (GenevaLunch) - The two Swiss men detained in Libya, Rachid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, appear together in a photo for the first time, distributed by Amnesty International’s Swiss office as a way of thanking the public for its support in recent days. Virtual candles have been lit in growing numbers since the start of December at www.bougieenlibye.ch and by today, 10 December and International Human Rights Day, 10,000 candles have been lit for the two men. They have also received more than 4,500 messages of support via Internet. Some 25,000 postcards from the public in Switzerland are also en route to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli, for the men.
The men read messages sent via Twitter several times a day, on a computer at the embassy, where they are staying while they await a second trial. A first trial found the men guilty of tax and visa irregularities. They were detained in July 2008, shortly after the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the Libyan leader.
”All these messages of support are really helping Rachid and me – they give us the courage to carry on, to remain hopeful,” Goeldi told Amnesty International eariler this week.
Background stories, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Amnesty International Switzerland, Virtual candles for Rachid and Max
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said in Geneva Tuesday 8 December that Libya should release two men detained there since July 2008, calling their detention “unfair” and an abuse of their rights.
Pillay, speaking ata news conference in Geneva, said, “I think the detention of the two Swiss businessmen appears to be a violation because they were detained in custody for a long time before the government of Libya announced that they were now subject to judicial proceedings for tax evasion. Their detention seems to be unfair and there has been no proper explanation for them. They appear to be victims of a state level dispute between Libya and Switzerland and should in my view be released as soon as possible. Individuals should not be made to suffer because of bad relations between states.”
The two men were detained shortly after Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s son Hannibal was arrested in Geneva in 2008.
Background stories, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: PressTV, Iran, Reuters Alertnet, UN Human Rights Commissioner
Update 2 22:50 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Reports were published Tuesday evening 1 December by several international news agencies that two Swiss businessmen, Max Goeldi and Rachid Hamdani, have been sentenced to 16 months in prison and fined $1,671 each by a Libyan court. Reuters received an e-mail confirmation from the Swiss foreign affairs ministry late Tuesday night confirming the news. The men have been sentenced on visa irregularities charges, according to the Swiss spokesman, Reuters reports. They are currently both at the Swiss Embassy. The two have been unable to leave the country since July 2008, shortly after Hannibal Qadaffi, the son of Libya’s leader, was arrested in Geneva for abusing his staff at a hotel. The arrest sparked a diplomatic row which has not been resolved, and the new sentences could strain tensions even further.
The two men, in Libya on business at the time of their arrest, were at the centre of intense negotiations in August 2009, when Muammar Qadaffi appears to have promised to help release them soon. Agencies reporting the story quote an unnamed Libyan official who also says the men face another trial, but no details were provided.
TSR, Swiss public television, early Tuesday evening reported that an official at ABB, the multinational that employs Goeldi, confirmed to the station that the men had been sentenced.
Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss president
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz has no regrets about his actions in the on-going disputes the country has with Libya, he says in a lengthy interview with 20Minuten, the German edition of the daily free newspaper. “I would do everything exactly the same way again.” Switzerland has been trying to obtain the release of two Swiss businessmen held in Tripoli, Libya since July 2008, after the son of Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddafi was arrested in Geneva days earlier.
Merz says he is sure the agreement he signed and the apology he gave to Libya 20 August should have freed the two men. The Swiss government announced at the time that the two would be back in Switzerland by the end of August, and sent an airplane to Tripoli to fly them home.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two Swiss men who were whisked away to a secret location, without outside contact, by the Libyan government in October have been turned over to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli, Libya. The men were kidnapped after being lured away on the pretext of needing medical examinations. The two have been waiting for exit visas to leave the country, and they have been at the centre of a tense political standoff between Bern and Tripoli.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government has suspended its 20 August 2009 agreement with Libya designed to improve relations and is restricting visas issued to Libyans. The Federal Council (cabinet) noted in a press release Wednesday 4 November that Tripoli has refused all collaboration and that “the two Swiss citizens, who were taken in violation of international law, are still being held in an unknown area. The Libyan authorities refuse to allow anyone to visit them.”
Irina Bokova, a diplomat from Bulgaria, has been named director-general of Unesco, the first woman to hold the post. She is currently Bulgaria’s ambassador to France and Monaco. Bokova was selected by Unesco’s executive board over Egypt’s culture minister, Farouk Hosny, after five rounds of ballots in September 2009. The organization’s general conference voted to confirm her appointment Thursday evening 15 October. She studied at Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Russia and the University of Maryland and Harvard in the US, and she is fluent in five languages. Libya, just days before the election, had threatened to boycott Unesco if she were elected, because of the case of Bulgarian nurses and a doctor who found guilty in Libya of intentionally infecting children with HIV/Aids.
Links to other sites: Bokova’s personal web page, Sofia Echo, Unesco, Xinhua
Bern, Switzerland / New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) – Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz capped off a busy political week for Switzerland with an address to the United Nations General Assembly where he argued that because “the G-20 lacks legitimacy” exchanges between the UN and the G20 group of nations “must be strengthened. The G-20 has taken over a role in discussing important global issues. This development must not take place at the expense of other nations or global institutions such as the UN.” Libya and Switzerland’s removal from the OECD gray list also made headlines in Switzerland and elsewhere.
G20 needs to create level playing field: Merz
Merz told world leaders Thursday 24 September at the assembly that “basic considerations of due process are absent in the sanctions procedures. The members of the G-20 themselves are not subject to the same scrutiny. Switzerland advocates a level playing field and a much better consultation among non-members of the G-20.”
Bern, Switzerland/New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) – Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz and Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi met in New York on the fringes of the UN General Assembly, to discuss the fate of the two Swiss businessmen who have been detained in Libya since July 2008. Qadaffi, the Swiss foriegn affairs ministry says in a Thursday noon, 24 September press release, is taking up their cause himself: “The Leader of the Revolution assured President Merz that he would commit himself personally to bringing about their release.”
The men were widely understood in Switzerland to be able to return to the country by the end of August 2009, but Libya has to date not released them, claiming administrative delays.
Libya Wednesday 23 September dropped its civil case against Geneva, pending the outcome of a three-person international arbitration tribunal. The tribunal is reviewing charges by Libya related to the arrest of Hannibal Qadaffi and his wife Aline in July 2008, at a hotel in Geneva.
Source: Swiss customs office (click on image to view larger)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Several economic indicators published by the Swiss federal government Tuesday 21 September show an economy still in the doldrums, but with the outlook slightly more optimistic than in August 2009. Exports are down and imports are down by an even larger percentage, the economy is stabilizing but will remain “sluggish” in 2010 and unemployment is high. The good news: while the picture is still gloomy, it’s getting a little brighter.
GDP growth positive, if only slightly, in 2010
The government’s economic advisory “Expert Group” released its latest quarterly projections, which include a “weaker decline” of GDP (gross domestic product), from -2.7 percent expected in June to -1.7 percent forecast now. The group now expects positive GDP growth in 2010 of 0.4 percent rather than the -0.4 percent projected earlier. Private consumption and building investment are holding relatively steady, which is helping Switzerland to have a recession less dramatic than in many countries, although 2009 will go down as the worst year since 1975 for GDP decline.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Details are surfacing slowly but steadily in the strange saga of the two Swiss men held by the Libyan government and Switzerland’s efforts to bring them home. The latest wrinkle is that the Swiss government has confirmed media reports from Wednesday 9 September that one of the two has had private contacts with the family of the Libyan prime minister and that he is living some 200 km from Tripoli, but reports in regularly to the Swiss embassy. The other man, ABB employee Max Goeldi, has opted to live at the embassy, and he has accepted the embassy’s offer to give him small amounts of work to do to fill his time.
Earlier media reports and government information indicated that the two men have been living at the Swiss embassy in Tripoli.
