Human rights lawyer not naturalized for political reasons
Keystone-SDA
The Algerian lawyer and human rights activist Rachid Mesli will not be naturalised in Switzerland. The Federal Administrative Court has rejected an appeal by Mesli against the negative decision of the State Secretariat for Migration.
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The authorities assume that Swiss-Algerian relations have been strained and that there is therefore a threat to external security. The Federal Administrative Court supported this view in a ruling published on Friday.
Mesli came to Switzerland with his wife in 2000. The lawyer defended supporters of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in Algeria during the 1990s and was himself sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for terrorist activities in 1997.
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He continued his work in Switzerland. He works with the Geneva-based NGO Trial and is a lawyer for the human rights organisation Alkarama, which is also based in Geneva. As co-founder of the Rachad movement, he wants to bring about political change in Algeria.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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