That’s why Switzerland let a suspected spy walk out of Iran Abortion delays the “red wave”: the US election night in 5 points

It was a coincidence: when the Swiss intelligence service arrested a suspected secret agent at an airport on December 14, 2007, the intelligence service obtained a memory card for a voice recording device. This find was an important piece of evidence. It was included in two reports in which the intelligence agency accused four individuals of exploiting political intelligence for Iran on Swiss soil. The suspects were an Iranian and three people of other nationalities.

The 74-year-old Iranian has worked at the World Health Organization in Geneva since 2002. The doctor and epidemiologist retired in 2010 and received a residence permit a year later. However, the Secretariat of State for Migration refused him a Swiss passport in November 2020 because it posed a threat to Switzerland’s internal and external security. An appeal against this to the Federal Administrative Court has yielded no result. His lawyer called the allegations of espionage unfounded.

The federal prosecutor’s office saw it differently. In May 2008, she launched an investigation into banned intelligence services. However, the prosecution of political crimes requires the consent of the Bundesrat. He can refuse if it is in the interest of the country. On July 21, 2008, the then Minister of Justice Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf stopped the project.

Uncertain outcome of the procedure

In response to a request, the federal prosecutor’s office delivered the strike order to CH Media. Now it is clear why the Federal Council gave free rein to the suspected secret agents. He pointed to the uncertain outcome of the proceedings, the diplomatic immunity of the accused and diplomatic relations with Iran, which could be damaged. In other words, Switzerland did not want to alienate the mullahs in Tehran.

It is an open secret that states want to solve problems with spying embassy personnel as quietly as possible. A popular method is to withdraw suspected diplomats before legal trouble looms. But the Iranian doctor remained in Geneva. According to the “Tages-Anzeiger” he devoted himself to humanitarian projects in the medical field.

Calmy-Rey wanted to mediate in the nuclear dispute

Interesting is the political context in which the agent’s episode took place. Tehran was under international scrutiny because of its nuclear program. Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has been trying to mediate in the nuclear dispute between Iran and the United States since 2006. In March 2008, Calmy-Rey visited the theocracy. The photo of the federal councilor wearing a headscarf during a meeting with then-president and Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went viral. She attended the signing of a gas deal between Iran and the Laufenburg electric utility. The controversial billion-dollar deal later burst. Switzerland also maintains special relations with Iran to the extent that Switzerland has been representing the US interests in Iran as a protective power since 1980.

The good services Switzerland is doing to Iran also influenced the Federal Council’s decision a few days ago not to join the EU sanctions. The EU has decided to do this because of the human rights violations related to the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini and the protests that followed. Numerous politicians criticized the fact that Switzerland was on the sidelines.