Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan faces rape charges in Paris

Renowned Islamic academic and scholar, Tariq Ramadan, is in temporary detention in Paris, French judiciary sources said on Wednesday.

Ramadan, a Swiss national, was detained after two French women accused him of sexually abusing them.

French judiciary police is now investigating the charges, the sources said.

Ramadan headed to an investigation center in Paris in the morning on Wednesday after he was summoned by French police as part of the investigation, according to the French newspaper, La Nouvelle Observateur, which ran the news about Ramadan’s detention.

Charges leveled against Ramadan include rape and intentional violence.

The French private television, RTL-TVI, reported the same news.

One of the two women filing the charges against Ramadan, a grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, Hassan al-Bana, told the French daily, Le Parisien, that Ramadan threatened to take revenge on her for reporting the incident to police.

Henda Ayari described the experience as “violent”.

The site of the French news channel, France 24, mentioned that Ayari gave an interview to Le Parisien on October 30, 2017, being the first woman to accuse Ramadan of raping her.

She said she was under intense psychological pressure after Ramadan threatened to take revenge on her or harm her children.

“He thinks a woman who does not wear the Islamic headgear must be rapped,” the woman said of al-Bana’s grandson.

Ayari, a previous Salafist who turned into a secular feminist, said she was spurred into reporting the rape incident after the launch of the “Out your Pig” campaign which encourages women not to fall silent on sexual harassment.

Ramadan is now facing charges of rape in Paris. Ayari was one of two women filing these charges.

According to the French daily, Libération, there are other reports by other women in this regard.

Proud to be a Muslim who respects the laws of the Republic 

Ayari came at the center of criticism by Ramadan’s fans on social media, who accused her of tarnishing the image of the Islamic religion.

She responded, however, by saying that she was proud to be a Muslim woman who abided by the laws of the republic.

“I reject to fall silent while people like Ramadan use the Islamic religion to satisfy their own sexual desires,” she wrote.

In October last year, a lawyer of Ramadan filed a complaint against Ayari, accusing her of lying. Ramadan said he would file another complaint in the coming few days.

He accused what he described as his “enemies” of launching a campaign of smear against him.