Swiss highest court overturns rape conviction verdict handed to Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan
Swiss Supreme Court Upholds Tariq Ramadan's Conviction for Sexual Assault
Tariq Ramadan, a former Oxford University professor, has been sentenced to three years in prison, with two years suspended, following a guilty verdict for sexual assault and rape in Switzerland. This marks the first guilty verdict against Ramadan in the country.
The conviction, handed down by the Geneva Court of Justice, was upheld by the Swiss supreme court, which concluded that there was no arbitrary assessment of the evidence and no violation of the presumption of evidence by the cantonal court.
The charges against Ramadan stem from a Geneva hotel room incident in 2008, where his accuser, identified as "Brigitte," testified that he subjected her to rape and violent sex acts. Brigitte filed her complaint against Ramadan 10 years later, citing encouragement from similar complaints against him in France during the "MeToo" movement.
Ramadan, who was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco, was forced to take a leave of absence in 2017 when the rape allegations surfaced in France. He maintains his innocence in the face of the supreme court's decision to reject his appeal.
In France, Ramadan is due to stand trial next year over allegations that he raped three women between 2009 and 2016. The supreme court's decision in Switzerland does not undermine the truth asserted by Ramadan, according to his lawyers, even if it does not confirm it.
The lawyers for Brigitte hailed the supreme court's decision as the end of a long ordeal and a long legal battle for their client. Ramadan's lawyers have stated that they will contest the decision and take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
This ruling is significant as Ramadan faces a string of rape allegations in Switzerland and France. The conviction and subsequent sentence serve as a reminder of the importance of upholding justice and ensuring that all parties involved in such cases are treated fairly and with respect.
