His alleged hate speech was reported by Swiss media including broadcaster SRF and the Tages-Anzeiger on Wednesday, and has caused particular consternation given they also revealed the unemployed man has been living on Swiss social welfare for years, receiving nearly 600,000 francs over the last 13 years. The 64-year-old is an occasional volunteer preacher at the Ar’Rahman mosque in Biel/Bienne, said the paper. The preacher came to Switzerland as a refugee in 1998 and was in 2001 granted asylum, claiming he was persecuted by the regime of Colonel Gadaffi. On Wednesday ATS reported that the authorities in Biel/Bienne are considering making a criminal complaint against the preacher for his suspected hate speech. On August 3rd the man’s refugee status was withdrawn by the Swiss migration office (SEM) since he had several times travelled to Libya and had a Libyan passport, said ATS.

Source: The Local August 24, 2017 08:55 UTC