The Paris trial of Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan on charges of raping three women has been adjourned until Wednesday after the defendant failed to appear, citing illness. The head judge ordered a medical report on Ramadan's health after his lawyers said he was hospitalised in Geneva due to multiple sclerosis.
Ramadan, 63, a former professor of contemporary Islamic studies at the University of Oxford, denies all charges. The allegations, dating from 2009 to 2016, are among the most prominent cases to emerge from the #MeToo movement in France. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
The first accuser, Henda Ayari, a former Salafist turned feminist campaigner, alleges Ramadan raped her in a Paris hotel room in 2012. A second woman, using the pseudonym Christelle, claims she was raped in Lyon in 2009. A third complaint was added later. Ramadan initially denied any sexual encounters but later admitted to consensual 'dominant-submissive' relationships.
Lawyers for the accusers dismissed claims of a political conspiracy, emphasising the case is about rape. Christelle's legal team requested the trial be held in private to protect her identity. Ramadan's lawyers argued he is unfit to appear without endangering his health.
In 2024, a Swiss court convicted Ramadan of raping a woman in Geneva in 2008, sentencing him to three years, with two suspended. Switzerland's highest court upheld the conviction, and Ramadan's legal team plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
