The Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan has been cleared of rape and sexual coercion by a Swiss court.
The case against Mr Ramadan, who is a Swiss citizen, was brought by a Swiss woman who said she had been raped by him in a Geneva hotel in 2008.
A convert to Islam, and a fan of Mr Ramadan’s, the woman told the court that she had been subjected to a brutal sexual assault, beatings and insults.
She said it happened after she was invited by the Oxford academic for a coffee after a conference.
Mr Ramadan, 60, denied all the charges, but admitted inviting her to his hotel room. He said all the accusations against him have been politically-motivated and designed to discredit him because of his effective Islamic advocacy and criticisms of the French state.
His French and Swiss lawyers also questioned the accusers’ truthfulness, citing inconsistencies around the dates of the alleged attacks.
Mr Ramadan’s defence lawyer described the charges against him as “crazy.” In his own remarks to the court, Mr Ramadan asked not to be tried on his “real or supposed ideology.”
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The Swiss judges said that it wasn’t up to the court to judge the sexual practises of Mr Ramadan or his morals or ideology but to simply judge the merits of the case.
They found that the accuser’s testimony had contradictions and wasn’t corroborated by any material evidence such as sperm, blood or video. They also considered the considerable “mediatisation” of the case and exchanges between the accuser and people implicated in other French cases which could have influenced her story and witness statements.
They also considered messages she sent to Mr Ramadan after the alleged rape which were messages of love and not messages from someone who felt she had been wronged.
But while he has been cleared in Switzerland, this could be just the first of several trials. In France, prosecutors are still assessing whether further rape charges brought against Mr Ramadan should go to court.
In 2018 Ramadan spent 10 months in a Paris jail without charge. He was subsequently freed but only under strict bail conditions.
In 2020 around 150 international scholars, politicians, social activists and journalists said what was happening to him was a “masquerade of justice” with biased judges ignoring crucial evidence and a judicial process which assumes he is guilty.
Tariq Ramadan is a world renowned academic, writer and public speaker known for his contributions to Islamic studies and contemporary Islamic thought. He is the grandson of Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Ramadan has held academic positions at various prestigious institutions, including the University of Geneva, the University of Fribourg and the University of Oxford. His research and teaching have focused on topics such as Islamic law, ethics, the integration of Muslims in Western societies, and the challenges facing contemporary Muslims.
