Islam scholar Tariq Ramadan goes on trial in Paris accused of raping three women

Islam scholar Tariq Ramadan goes on trial in Paris accused of raping three women Former Oxford University professor and UK government adviser faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted The prominent Swiss academic and Islam scholar Tariq Ramadan will go trial in Paris on Monday on charges of raping three women in France between 2009 and 2016. Ramadan, who advised previous British governments on Islam and society, denies all the charges in a case that has been seen as one of the biggest repercussions of the #MeToo movement in France. Ramadan, 63, was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at the University of Oxford before taking a leave of absence in 2017 when rape allegations were first made against him. He took early retirement from Oxford in June 2021. Ramadan is accused of the rape of three women. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. Henda Ayari, 41, a former Salafist Muslim who is now a feminist campaigner, went to the police in 2017 to accuse Ramadan of rape, sexual violence, harassment and intimidation. She said he raped her in a hotel room in the east of Paris in the spring of 2012 during a conference where he was speaking. Another woman, known by the pseudonym Christelle, told investigators Ramadan raped her in a Lyon hotel room in October 2009 during another conference and subjected her to a violent attack. A third woman said Ramadan raped her in 2016. At the start of the investigation in 2017, Ramadan, who is married with four children, denied any form of sexual encounter with the first two women. In 2018, he changed his account, telling investigating judges that he did have sexual relations with Ayari and Christelle, but that they had sought the encounters and fully consented to the “dominant-submissive” relationship. The third woman’s complaint was added to the investigation later. Sarah Mauger-Poliak, the lawyer for Henda Ayari, told Agence-France Presse that the trial was “not a conspiracy or political battle” but simply a case of ra...