Geneva court docket overturns acquittal of Tariq Ramadan and sentences him to 3 years in jail.
A Swiss appeals court docket has convicted Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan of rape and sexual coercion.
The Geneva court docket has overturned a earlier acquittal towards the 62-year-old former professor accused of attacking a girl in a Geneva resort in 2008. The choice was dated August 28 however was solely made public on Tuesday.
The court docket sentenced Ramadan, grandson of the founding father of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hasan al-Banna, to 3 years in jail, two of which have been suspended.
The tutorial has strongly denied the fees towards him, that are based mostly on an accusation from an nameless Swiss lady regarding the incident 16 years in the past.
The lady, a Muslim convert recognized solely as “Brigitte,” had testified that the person subjected her to rape and different violent sexual acts.
Her lawyer mentioned she was repeatedly raped and subjected to “torture and barbarity.”
Final 12 months, a decrease court docket acquitted Ramadan, citing lack of proof and conflicting testimony.
Ramadan can attraction the brand new determination in federal court docket.
Fall from grace
Ramadan was a number one determine in European Islam and rose to public consideration within the 2000s as a professor at Oxford College and lecturing all through Europe, the Center East and Asia.
Time journal named him one of many 100 most influential folks on this planet in 2004.
Her fall from grace started when allegations of sexual violence surfaced in France in 2009.
In 2016, 4 French ladies had accused him of rape. The Swiss lady filed her criticism in 2018, saying she felt courageous sufficient to come back ahead after the opposite accusations.
Ramadan mentioned he had not engaged in “any sexual acts, behaviors or acts that had not been beforehand mentioned” with the ladies.
When the allegations emerged, he suspended his 12-year professorship of latest Islamic research at Oxford College.
His admission in 2018 that he had sexual relations exterior his decades-long marriage, through which he fathered 4 kids with a French lady, tarnished his picture amongst some non secular and neighborhood leaders.
Ramadan took early retirement, saying he suffers from a number of sclerosis and melancholy.
