Zurich court clears Islam critic Saïda Keller-Messahli of defamation charge
The Zurich District Court has acquitted publicist Saïda Keller-Messahli. She had linked Muslim associations to radical organisations in an interview in 2024.
Acquittal for Keller-Messahli following defamation lawsuit by Muslim associations
The Zurich District Court has acquitted publicist and Islam critic Saïda Keller-Messahli of the charge of defamation. According to Tages-Anzeiger, the case centres on statements Keller-Messahli made in 2024 in an interview with Le Matin Dimanche.
The associations Union Vaudoise des Associations Musulmanes (Uvam) and the Association of Islamic Organisations in Zurich (Vioz) had accused her of improperly associating them with radical Islamist organisations. The District Court ultimately permitted only the criminal complaint from Uvam to proceed.
The judge explained at the reading of the judgment that it remained unclear whether the statement in question was defamatory. That a Muslim association be connected with extremist organisations could certainly be honour-damaging.
The decisive factor, however, was a clarification published after the interview: a representative of Uvam had disputed that a person said to have belonged to the Algerian radical Islamist party FIS was part of the management of the Vaud-based organisation. However, he had not denied that this person had sat on the Imam Advisory Board — an organisation within Uvam.
For the court, that was precisely the decisive exonerating evidence. "One cannot provide better exonerating evidence than that," said the judge. Keller-Messahli had declared in court: "I have submitted sufficient evidence for that."
The defence had moreover argued that an association, as a legal person, could not have its honour damaged. The court rejected this objection, however.
The judgment is not yet final and can be appealed to the higher court.
Source: Tages-Anzeiger