Switzerland has authorized federal prosecutors to carry out a criminal investigation of former top police official Nicoletta della Valle for her role in the 2025 detention and expulsion of Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada’s executive director.
The decision came as Abunimah returned to Switzerland this week for legal hearings relating to complaints he filed against other individuals,
The Electronic Intifada can reveal today that the hearings were for two defamation cases regarding statements about Abunimah in Switzerland.
Separate from those cases, Abunimah filed a criminal complaint against della Valle for abuse of public office.
Ali Abunimah@AliAbunimah
🇨🇭 Having my day in court in Zurich. Behind me is the vast police/court complex that includes the prison where I was hosted on my last visit. Wish me luck! :)
6:36 AM · Jun 24, 2026 · 30.4K Views
203 Replies · 508 Reposts · 3.1K Likes
On Tuesday, Abunimah’s lawyer was informed by the federal department of justice that the case will proceed to a criminal investigation. The ministry said that the allegations against della Valle cannot be dismissed as manifestly unfounded, nor is it obvious that a criminal offense was not committed or that the matter can be treated as a minor case.
Della Valle was director of Fedpol, the national police force, in January 2025 when she overrode the assessment of internal specialists to impose a retroactive entry ban and an expulsion order on Abunimah after he had already entered the country lawfully on 24 January 2025.
As The Electronic Intifada reported soon after, official documents prove that Swiss federal authorities initially rejected a request to ban Abunimah from entering the country.
Fedpol, immigration authorities and the national intelligence service all concluded that Abunimah was not a threat to Swiss security, that his views were protected by freedom of speech and that there were consequently no grounds for a ban.
It was only after the request to ban Abunimah was sent to authorities for a second time – based on no new evidence – that della Valle overrode the professionals’ assessments and imposed the ban retrospectively.
This led to Abunimah effectively being kidnapped off the streets, without warning, by plainclothes police officers who did not identify themselves until after they had grabbed him.
Abunimah was then held without charge, locked in a cell for 24 hours per day, prohibited from contacting his family and forcibly deported three days later.
The journalist had come to Switzerland to hold public speaking events about the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court ruled earlier this year that Abunimah’s procedural rights were grossly violated and Fedpol ultimately ruled that the decisions against him were unlawful.
The Zurich Administrative Court also ruled in December that Abunimah’s arrest and detention were unconstitutional and violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
As this writer reported in November, della Valle left her senior police office not long after the incident and took on a lucrative role with Champel Capital, an Israeli investment firm whose founder Amir Weitmann has openly called for the Israeli military to use genocidal methods against “the entire Gaza Strip.”
Criticism in the Swiss press in October 2025 led to della Valle’s name being removed from the company’s website soon after.
During his current trip to Switzerland, Abunimah took part in a packed teach-in hosted by Watermelon University on Tuesday, an event originally planned for January 2025.
His pursuit of accountability and defense of free speech is being made possible by crowdfunded public support.
Abunimah said that he was “deeply grateful to each and every person who has contributed and spoken out.”
First published by The Electronic Intifada.
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