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Rabat – French police arrested Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar, on Wednesday after two women filed complaints against him last year, accusing him of rape.
Ramadan was taken into police custody by the Paris police as “part of a preliminary inquiry” into the rape and assault allegations,confirmed RTL radio, as reported by the France Agence Presse.
The Oxford professor denies the allegations, claiming that they are part of a”campaign of lies launched by [his] adversaries.”
For years, many French writers, journalists, and theologians have been skeptical of his influence and have pointed out the flagrant disparities between Ramadan’s speeches in Europe and the Muslim World, accusing him of a double discourse.
Elsewhere, however, Ramadan enjoys admiration from his many followers. His debates have been viewed millions of times on Youtube, very rarely appearing to lose arguments with his opponents. The professor, fluent in French, English, and Arabic, often preaches about a future “Euro-Islam,” building bridges between Islam and the West.
He has been a member of various major cultural institutions, including the British Foreign Office and Oxford University where he has been teaching since 2009, and his books have received glowing reviews in international publications like the New York Times.
But soon after the rape accusations surfaced, Oxford University issued a statement that “by mutual agreement and with immediate effect,” Ramadan would take a leave of absence from his position as Professor of Contemporary Islamic studies.
Ramadan was accused of rape by author and former Salafi Henda Ayari, who accused him of raping her in 2012 on the sidelines of a congress of the Union of Islamic Organizations of France. Another woman stepped forward shortly thereafter and claimed she was raped by the Swiss scholar in a French hotel in 2009.
