Geneva courtroom overturns acquittal of Tariq Ramadan, palms down three-year sentence.
A Swiss appeals courtroom has convicted Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan of rape and sexual coercion.
The courtroom in Geneva overturned a previous acquittal of the high-profile 62-year-old former professor on fees that he attacked a lady in a lodge within the metropolis in 2008. The choice was dated August 28 however solely made public on Tuesday.
The courtroom sentenced Ramadan, grandson of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt founder Hasan al-Banna, to 3 years in jail, with two of them suspended.
The scholar has strongly denied the costs towards him, which have been based mostly on an accusation by an unnamed Swiss girl referring to the incident 16 years in the past.
A Muslim convert, recognized solely as “Brigitte”, the lady had testified he subjected her to rape and different violent intercourse acts.
Her lawyer mentioned she was repeatedly raped and subjected to “torture and barbarism”.
A decrease courtroom discovering final yr had acquitted Ramadan, citing a scarcity of proof and contradictory testimonies.
Ramadan can attraction the brand new ruling at a federal courtroom.
Fall from grace
Ramadan was a number one determine in European Islam, having fun with the general public highlight within the 2000s as a professor at Oxford College and lecturing throughout Europe, the Center East and Asia.
Time Journal named him among the many 100 most influential individuals on the planet in 2004.
His fall from grace started when allegations of sexual violence have been made in France in 2009.
By 2016, 4 French girls had accused him of rape. The Swiss girl filed her grievance in 2018, saying she felt emboldened to come back ahead following the opposite accusations.
Ramadan mentioned he had not carried out “a single act, behaviour or intercourse act that was not mentioned beforehand” with the ladies.
Because the allegations emerged, he put his 12-year professorship in modern Islamic research on the College of Oxford on maintain.
His 2018 admission that he had intercourse exterior his a long time of marriage, through which he had 4 kids with a French girl, tarnished his picture for some non secular and group leaders.
Saying he suffers from a number of sclerosis and melancholy, Ramadan retired early.