LONDON – Oxford University professor and government adviser Tariq Ramadanhas been detained for questioning months after two women filed rape chargesagainst him, according to a legal source.
The prominent Swiss Islam academic was summoned for questioning with Parisjudicial police and taken into custody “as part of a preliminary inquiry inParis into rape and assault allegations”, the source said, confirming areport by RTL radio.
He can be detained for questioning for a maximum of 48 hours after which hecould be simply freed, placed under formal investigation or made an“assistant witness” – a status suggesting there is less reason to suspecthe committed a crime.
Prof Ramadan has previously strongly denied all allegations against himlink>andhas claimed he is being targeted by “a campaign of slander clearlyorchestrated by my longtime adversaries”.
In October, Henda Ayari, a former Salafist turned secular feminist author,alleged Mr Ramadan had raped her in a hotel room in 2012. She had mentionedthe rape in a book published in 2016 but said she had not named Mr Ramadanafter receiving “threats”.
She said she had decided to “name and shame” Prof Ramadan as a “pervertguru” following the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Referring to the alleged rape, she said he had “pounced on my like a wildanimal” after she went to tell him she admired his work.[image: Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan]Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan CREDIT:AFP
“He kissed me really hard… then for a few seconds he choked me, I reallythought I was going to die”.
She said that in his eyes, “either you’re veiled or you are raped”, addingthat he “uses Islam to satisfy his sexual urges”.
The second complainant – a 42-year old convert to Islam – has alleged thatshe was raped by Prof Ramadan in the Hilton hotel in Lyon in 2009.