On Tuesday, September 10, an appeals court in Switzerland found Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar, guilty of rape and sexual coercion in a case dating back to 2008. The ruling overturned a lower court’s previous acquittal from May 2023, and the court sentenced Ramadan to three years in prison, with two years suspended.
The 2008 rape case
The case stems from allegations made by a woman identified as Brigitte, a Muslim convert, who accused Tariq Ramadan of raping her in a Geneva hotel room on October 28, 2008. Brigitte testified that she was subjected to violent sexual acts and described the encounter as involving “torture and barbarism.” The incident was reported to authorities in 2018, as Brigitte felt empowered to come forward after hearing similar accusations against Ramadan in France.
Tariq Ramadan’s defense
Throughout the trial, Tariq Ramadan, now 62, maintained his innocence, asserting that Brigitte invited herself to his hotel room. He acknowledged letting her kiss him but claimed to have ended the encounter soon after. Ramadan suggested that he was the victim of a setup.
Other allegations in France
Tariq Ramadan also faces additional rape allegations in France, where he is accused of sexually assaulting three women between 2009 and 2016. The French cases forced Ramadan to take a leave of absence from his position as a professor at Oxford University in 2017. One of the accusers, Henda Ayari, a French activist, filed her complaint in October 2017, alleging that Ramadan raped her at a Paris hotel.
This Swiss verdict marks a significant moment in the ongoing legal challenges faced by the scholar.