Iran Regime Surveillance in Switzerland: Activists Fear Monitoring in Bern

Are they among themselves today? Roughly one hundred people gathered this Thursday evening in the middle of Zurich. Some have green-white-red flags draped over their shoulders. Others hold up signs depicting men and women killed in the recent protests in Iran. “The Iranian Revolutionary Guards murdered them, one after another,” a woman shouts into a microphone. It is bitterly cold.

The demonstrators stand close together. Small candles burn on the ground, providing at least a little warmth. The people here share their anger at the regime in Tehran, their grief over killed relatives, acquaintances, and friends. All together. Or not?

Several Iranian women and men tell this newspaper that they are being monitored by the regime in Switzerland. Suspicious men appear at rallies like this one in Zurich, observing participants and taking photos. “We assume we are being watched this evening as well,” says Saghi Gholipour, an activist with the Free Iran Switzerland movement, which co-organized the protest in Zurich.

How do they recognize the spies? “We can tell,” says Gholipour. It’s similar to plainclothes police. “You can just tell.” Supporters of the regime often wear poor clothing or have poorly shaved beards. The activists cannot prove their suspicions.

However, their suspicions are not unfounded. Swiss authorities also have Iran on their radar. While China and Russia are primarily known for monitoring, intimidating, or suppressing critical individuals, Iran also engages in transnational repression in Switzerland. The Federal Council noted this in a report last year.

Swiss authorities are reluctant to disclose much more on request. However, embassies often play a central role in repression. The Federal Intelligence Service assumes that numerous foreign intelligence services maintain covert bases in Switzerland, usually in embassies and consulates.

“The Iranian embassy in Bern is a nest of agents,” says activist Saghi Gholipour. She came to Switzerland as a young girl and had negative experiences with embassy staff. An employee allegedly flirted with her inappropriately and demanded she repeatedly submit new passport photos, even though she had already submitted several. “When I left the embassy after the appointment, I was crying and shaking because I felt so humiliated,” she says. And that is a relatively harmless story. She often hears from acquaintances who say they are threatened by the embassy if they participate in rallies or share critical content on social media.

Maryam Banihashemi, a prominent regime critic who has lived in Switzerland for several years, also fears going to the embassy. Her Iranian passport expires in a few months, but she does not want to travel to Bern to renew it. “The embassy is Iranian soil. As soon as I enter, they can do whatever they want to me,” she says. She lives in constant fear. “But like many exiles, I’ve almost gotten used to it.”

Botschafter kritisiert die Schweiz (Ambassador Criticizes Switzerland)

The Iranian embassy is located in the affluent Kirchenfeld district of Bern. The stately house is surrounded by a high fence with barbed wire, and the national flag flies in the garden. Ambassador Mahmoud Barimani has been in office since 2023. He acts reservedly. Swiss politicians contacted by this newspaper are unfamiliar with him, and he is barely known in the Iranian community. He also did not respond to requests for comment.

However, there is little doubt that the ambassador firmly supports the government in Tehran. After the government killed thousands of people during protests across the country in January, the embassy in Bern published a 45-page document on its website. This document repeats the government’s propaganda: “Terrorists” initially turned “peaceful gatherings” of merchants in Tehran into a violent uprising. The masterminds behind it: the USA and Israel.

Even after the World Economic Forum in Davos decided to disinvite the Iranian Foreign Minister, Ambassador Barimani staunchly defended the leadership in Tehran. In international media, he said that the WEF wanted to prevent the voice of Iran from reaching a global audience. And he criticized Switzerland. He said its reputation as a neutral country committed to diplomacy was being questioned.

The Swiss government summoned Ambassador Barimani in January to protest against the excessive violence of the Iranian authorities against demonstrators.

Diplomaten legen ihr Amt nieder (Diplomats Resign)

Kijan Espahangizi is a historian at the University of Zurich and researches the history of modern Iran. He says the Islamic Republic has an influence on the Iranian diaspora in Switzerland. “People here live in constant uncertainty. If it comes down to it, the regime is present in the embassy in Bern.” He believes that Switzerland should do more to protect citizens from the long arm of the mullahs. “Switzerland should classify the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, similar to the EU,” he says. “And then close the embassy in Bern, because it is the seat of the terrorist organization.”

Closing the embassy? This demand is unlikely to have any political chance in Switzerland. On the one hand, it does not correspond to the country’s diplomatic tradition. Russia and North Korea also have diplomatic representations in Bern. Official Switzerland is proud of its role in Iran. Since 1980, it has represented US interests there and served as a communication channel between the two warring countries.

However, something seems to be happening at Iranian diplomatic missions without orders from Bern. In January, an Iranian diplomat allegedly resigned from his post at the UN mission in Geneva and applied for asylum in Switzerland. The exile media outlet “Iran International” reported this. And this week it became known that an Iranian diplomat in Vienna had left his post. According to the media, he also intends to apply for asylum in Switzerland. Both diplomats are said to be driven by the fear that the regime could fall.

Swiss migration authorities declined to comment on the two diplomats who had gone underground. The State Secretariat for Migration stated that it does not comment on individual cases for data protection and privacy reasons. In the Iranian community, the departures are seen as a positive sign. Or, as someone said sarcastically: “The first rats are leaving the sinking ship.”