Swiss War Materiel and Arms Exports

Back to the list

Rifle scopes and diving equipment for Ali Khamenei’s Iran

Goods category: Unclear (the exact Goods Control Act list classification at the time of telescopic sights and diving accessories could not be fully reconstructed)

Ali Khamenei, Nowruz address, 20.03.2017 according to the file page.

CC BY 4.0

In 2007, a dealer living in Ticino arranged the transit of 150 Schmidt & Bender rifle scopes through Swiss bonded warehouses on their way via Italy to Iran. In 2014, part of the proceedings was dismissed as time-barred; the 50 devices transported in November initially resulted in a conviction under the War Materiel Act. The Federal Supreme Court overturned the judgment in 2016: in addition to their military design, the devices’ actual civilian use also had to be examined. On reconsideration on 20 October 2017, the Federal Criminal Court no longer treated the rifle-scope deliveries as a violation of the War Materiel Act. In the same proceedings as the rifle scopes for Iran, twelve packages of accessories for military diving equipment were investigated. The Federal Supreme Court described the export from the Chiasso bonded warehouse to the United Arab Emirates on 6 October 2008 as unauthorised and recounted the first-instance conviction under the Goods Control Act. The prosecution had also named Iran as a destination. After the entire case was remitted, the overall sentence was reduced in 2017 to a suspended monetary penalty of 300 Swiss francs. The precise onward transport of the diving equipment from the Emirates to Iran is not reconstructed in the accessible passages of the decisions. In the NZZ am Sonntag report of 5 November 2017, the Palestinian territories are named as one of the alleged destinations of the internationally investigated trading network.

Effect of the proposed War Materiel Act revision

Under the new Article 22b, the Federal Council could depart from all the licensing criteria in Article 22a under vaguely defined ‘exceptional circumstances’. The public would not have to be informed. The Federal Council could add Iran and the United Arab Emirates to Annex 2 by amending the War Materiel Ordinance. This would remove the exclusion criterion based on participation in an armed conflict and make approval the rule. The Federal Council could refuse a licence only in exceptional cases. If a Palestinian recipient state were added to Annex 2 by amending the ordinance, the exclusion criterion based on participation in an armed conflict would also be removed for it and approval would become the rule. Article 18 paragraph 1 would abolish non-re-export declarations in the vast majority of cases. Weapons for Iran, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinian territories could thus easily be supplied through a subsidiary or intermediary in a third country. For example, the following states could serve as third countries, having supplied substantial quantities of war materiel in recent years according to SIPRI: United Arab Emirates: United States (9’818 million TIV).

Countries

Companies

Time period

Transit/export in 2007–2008; proceedings in 2014–2017

Sources