Jihadist Radicalization in Switzerland

Even though some of its citizens have been killed or kidnapped by various jihadist groups abroad over the last twenty years, internally Switzerland has not witnessed jihadist activities on a significant scale. Unlike most Western European countries, in fact, no successful terrorist attack of jihadist inspiration has ever been perpetrated on its territory and only a dozen individuals have been tried for terrorism-related crimes, all of them involving non-violent activities of material support and propaganda. Moreover, the number of Swiss residents who have traveled abroad to join jihadist groups is also estimated to be lower than in most other European countries. Yet Swiss authorities are not complacent and argue that 'Switzerland is not an island.' Counterterrorism officials have consistently claimed that there is ample evidence suggesting that some of the same radicalization trends that have long characterized other Western European countries also exist in Switzerland, albeit on a smaller scale. This report seeks to assess the size and dynamics of jihadist radicalization in the country.