Muslim Brotherhood founder’s grandson accused of rape, sexual assault

A rape and sexual assault complaint was filed on Friday in France against Swiss Islamist and Prof. Tariq Ramadan by Henda Ayari, reported Agence France Press.

Tariq Ramadan is the grandson of Egyptian scholar Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group deemed terrorist by a number of Arab and Muslim countries.

The complaint, filed with the Rouen prosecutor’s office in northwest France by Ayari, now a secular activist, detailed criminal acts of rape, sexual assault, violence, harassment and intimidation, according to a document reviewed by AFP.

The Liberators Association, of which Ayari is president, said on Facebook that she was “a victim of something very serious several years ago,” but did not reveal the name of her aggressor for safety reasons.

In her book “I Chose to be Free,” published in November 2016, she described her aggressor as Zubair. She wrote that she met him at his hotel in Paris after he had given a lecture.

“I will not give precise details of the acts he has done to me. It is enough to know that he has benefited greatly from my weakness,” Ayari wrote.

She added that when she rebelled against him at one point, he screamed at her, insulted her, slapped her and treated her violently.

“I confirm today, that the famous Zubair is Tariq Ramadan,” Ayari wrote on Facebook. Her lawyer Jonas Haddad said she did not report the assault earlier out of fear.

“After revelations over the past few days of rape and sexual assault claims in the media, Henda has decided to say what happened to her and take legal action,” he told AFP.

On Saturday, Ramadan denied Ayari’s allegations and expressed his intension to sue for “slanderous denunciation” on Monday, his lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou, told French media.