PARIS, March 26 — A Paris criminal court has sentenced Swiss Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan to 18 years in prison after finding him guilty of raping three women.
PARIS, March 26 — A Paris criminal court has sentenced Swiss Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan to 18 years in prison after finding him guilty of raping three women.
The ruling marks a significant downfall for the former Oxford University professor, who has faced multiple rape allegations in both France and Switzerland, and was previously convicted in the latter.
Once regarded as a prominent yet controversial figure in European Islam, Ramadan has consistently denied the accusations.
He had been on trial in Paris since March 2 over alleged rapes committed between 2009 and 2016 but did not attend the proceedings. His lawyer claimed he was hospitalised in Geneva due to complications from multiple sclerosis, though this was dismissed following a court-ordered medical review.
Presiding judge Corinne Goetzmann said an arrest warrant has been issued for the 63-year-old. The court also ruled that he will be banned from returning to France after completing his sentence.
In 2025, Switzerland’s top court upheld his earlier conviction for raping a woman in a Geneva hotel nearly 20 years ago, maintaining a three-year sentence, with two years suspended.
Prior to the allegations, Ramadan served as a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford and held visiting academic roles in Qatar and Morocco.
He was placed on leave in 2017 after accusations surfaced in France during the height of the “Me Too” movement. — AFP
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