Islamic Scholar Tariq Ramadan Found Guilty of Rape by Swiss Appeals Court
On Tuesday, Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar and former Oxford University professor, was found guilty of rape and sexual coercion by a Swiss appeals court. The conviction overturned a previous acquittal by a lower court.
The court in Geneva found that the 62-year-old Ramadan had assaulted a woman in a hotel 15 years ago. The ruling marks the first time Ramadan has been handed a guilty verdict, sentencing him to three years in prison, with two of those years suspended.
The prosecutor had initially called for a more severe sentence, requesting three years in prison with only half of the sentence suspended. The ruling was made on August 28 but was only publicly revealed on Tuesday.
The woman’s lawyers, Veronique Fontana and Robert Assael, expressed relief at the outcome, stating, “The truth has finally triumphed.”
Ramadan’s legal team, led by Philippe Ohayon, criticized the judicial process, citing numerous contradictions. Ramadan has consistently denied the accusations, maintaining that he was the victim of a setup.
The accuser, identified as "Brigitte," is a Muslim convert who claimed Ramadan raped her and subjected her to violent acts in a Geneva hotel room in October 2008.
Ramadan, however, claimed that Brigitte initiated the encounter and that he ended it quickly.
Brigitte only filed the complaint 10 years later, encouraged by other accusations against Ramadan in France during the height of the #MeToo movement.
The Geneva court’s decision overturned the previous acquittal, which had cited a lack of evidence and contradictory testimonies. However, the appeals court referenced multiple pieces of evidence, including witness testimony and medical reports, to support the plaintiff’s account.
Ramadan, a controversial figure in European Islam, was forced to take a leave of absence from Oxford University in 2017 when similar allegations surfaced in France.
In France, he faces accusations of raping three women between 2009 and 2016. His legal team continues to challenge those charges.