Rabat – Swiss Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan appeared on Monday before the Geneva criminal court in Switzerland as part of a trial on his alleged involvement in a “rape and sexual coercion” case.
The alleged incident dates back to the evening of 28 October 2008, with the plaintiff, a Swiss woman known as “Brigitte” in the media to protect her identity, accusing Ramadan of having subjected her to “brutal sexual acts, beatings, and insults” in a hotel room in Geneva, according to AFP.
Brigitte, who was 40 at the time of the alleged assault, filed a complaint against the Islamic scholar in April 2018 in Geneva.
AFP contacted one of Ramadan’s lawyers, Philippe Ohayon, ahead of the trial but he declined to comment.
The trial, which has attracted significant public attention, started with heightened security measures at the courthouse. It is set to last between two to three days and the court will deliver the verdict on May 24. Ramadan will be able to appeal if declared guilty of the charges, the Geneva court told AFP.
If convicted, Ramadan, who is 60 years old, could face a prison sentence ranging from two to 10 years.
Ramadan obtained his doctorate from the University of Geneva and was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University until November 2017. He also held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.
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As Ramadan faced rape allegations and subsequent legal proceedings in France in 2017, he was suspended from his post at Oxford University.
Meanwhile, the Swiss investigation into Ramadan’s alleged sexual misconduct faced delays as the 60-year-old scholar was initially in pre-trial detention in Paris and could not be questioned by Swiss authorities.
After his release in November 2018, he was placed on probation and prevented from leaving France, except for the Geneva trial, for which he received special authorization.
The complainant, who is a convert to Islam, said that she met Ramadan at a book signing in 2008 and later at a conference in the same year before the alleged events took place.
They engaged in an “increasingly intimate correspondence” on social media, and Brigitte joined him at his hotel in Geneva on the night in question, according to AFP.
Brigitte accuses Ramadan of raping her three times during the night and engaging in sexual coercion “to the point of suffocation.” The Islamic scholar denies the complainant’s allegations.
Brigitte’s lawyer Francois Zimeray described the trial as an “ordeal” for his client, emphasizing her desire for “recognition of the suffering that has accompanied her for 15 years and which she has made it a painful duty to reveal.”
The attorney added that Brigitte “expects a difficult, painful confrontation but she is ready for it, convinced that this fight is a duty for her as much as an ordeal.”
