Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has called for a "jihad" or armed struggle against Switzerland using all means, saying it was an infidel state that was destroying mosques.
"Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against (the Prophet) Mohammad, God and the Koran," Gaddafi said today during a meeting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to mark the Prophet's birthday.
Libya's relations with Switzerland broke down in 2008 when a son of Col Gaddafi was arrested in a Geneva hotel and charged with abusing domestic servants.
He was released shortly afterwards and the charges were dropped, but Libya cut trade ties with Switzerland, withdrew billions of dollars from Swiss bank accounts and arrested two Swiss businessmen working in Tripoli.
One was released but the other was forced this week to leave the Swiss embassy in Tripoli where he had been sheltering and move to a prison to serve a four-month sentence, apparently avoiding a major confrontation.
Libya says the Geneva arrest and the case of the two businessmen are not linked.
"Let us fight against Switzerland, Zionism and foreign aggression," said Gaddafi, adding that "this is not terrorism", in contrast with the work of al Qaeda which he called a "kind of crime and a psychological disease."
"There is a big difference between terrorism and jihad which is a right to armed struggle," he said.
Gaddafi accused Switzerland of being an "infidel, obscene state which is destroying mosques", in reference to a Swiss referendum verdict barring construction of minarets.
He called for a "jihad against it with all means".
Switzerland in the past weeks placed 180 senior Libyan officials, including Col Gaddafi and his family, on a Schengen blacklist, effectively preventing any state in the Schengen area from issuing visas for these people.
Libya retaliated by revoking all visas issued to travellers from the Schengen area, including Malta.
The only two Maltese on an Air Malta flight to Libya today were refused entry and sent back to Malta. So too were Italians and Germans who flew to Libya on other flights.
SWISS AMBASSADOR DEFENDS DECISION
The new Swiss ambassador to Malta, Bernardino Regazzoni, this morning defended his country’s decision to blacklist the 180 Libyan nationals and said the action was motivated by a threat to national security.
Mr Regazzoni made his comments to timesofmalta.com after he presented his letters of credentials to President George Abela.
Malta had been among the countries which criticised the Swiss blacklisting decision and questioned its legality in terms of Schengen rules.
“The discussion over our position and how it fits into Schengen law is ongoing. We contend that it is lawful. When the black list of Libyan officials was issued, we justified it on the basis of national security. At the time the list was drawn up, two Swiss nationals were under arrest in Libya and for 52 days their whereabouts were unknown. This was a threat to our security,” the new ambassador said.
When asked whether this blacklist would be removed following recent developments, including the release of one of the Swiss nationals, the ambassador said he was not in a position to comment.
He, however, expressed gratitude to the EU for mediating on the issue.