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UN Experts Denounce Switzerland for Sentencing Students over Gaza Protests
UN experts say criminal trespass fines and convictions against 38 ETH Zurich students threaten fundamental freedoms and criminalize peaceful protest, with 17 appeals pending.
- On Tuesday, Ten U.N. human rights experts in Geneva formally protested to Switzerland over sentences for trespassing tied to a May 2024 sit-in at ETH Zurich.
- Around 70 students at ETH Zurich staged sit-ins in May 2024 demanding withdrawal from research ties with Israel's military-industrial apparatus, leading ETH Zurich to file a trespass complaint and police to disperse the protest.
- After the protests, 38 students received penal orders, including 17 who opted to appeal; five students were sentenced with suspended fines up to 2,700 Swiss francs, while all bore court costs of at least 2,400 francs per person.
- They warned that criminalising peaceful protest risks intimidation and long-term harm, urging Swiss authorities and judicial system to fully consider Switzerland's human rights obligations and protect students' rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
- Switzerland's May 2025 export-control rules do not cover fundamental research, leaving responsibility for potential military applications largely to individual researchers, while ETH Zurich website stated no end-use controls existed.
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Asharq AL-awsat
Asharq AL-awsatUN experts slam Swiss penalties over anti-Israel student protests
United Nations experts harshly criticised a top Swiss university's decision to pursue the criminal prosecution of students who peacefully protested against its partnerships with Israeli institutions.
·Switzerland
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In May 2024, around 70 students organized sit-ins at the Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to protest against collaborations with Israeli universities.
They consider that these criminal sanctions violate freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
U.N. human rights experts said on Tuesday they had protested to Switzerland after a group of students was sentenced for trespassing after taking part in pro-Palestinian protests at a Swiss-funded university.
·United Kingdom
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Total News Sources11
Leaning Left2Leaning Right6Center1Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Right
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources lean Right
67% Right
L 22%
11%
R 67%
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