The Swiss Islamologist had first denied having had extramarital relations before finally declaring, in the face of evidence, that these were “relations of domination (…) granted”.
Le Monde with AFP
The emblematic affair of the #MeToo movement in France, had brought another lighting on Tariq Ramadan at the end of 2017, then known as a figure in European Islam. Tuesday, July 12, the Paris prosecutor’s office requested a trial at the assizes for the Swiss Islamologist, for “rape” with regard to three complainants and for “rape on vulnerable person with regard to a complainant [fourth]” .
“Despite the repeated denials of the indictment, the judicial information has brought together numerous elements against Tariq Ramadan”, underlines the prosecution in its requisitions. Mr. Ramadan, 59, had first denied having had extramarital sex before finally declaring, in the face of evidence, that these were “relations of domination (…) granted” with the complainants.
final decision by investigating judges
The case had been launched at the end of October 2017 by the complaints of Henda Ayari, an ex-Salafist who became a secular activist, and “Christelle”, who denounced rape in 2012 and 2009 respectively in Lyon. Between February 2018 and October 2020, Mr. Ramadan had been successively indicted for rape against these first two complainants and three other potential victims. He had been incarcerated ten months.
Two of these last victims had been identified by the police in photos and messages found in his computer. One of them had mentioned during a hearing in 2019 a “consented” physical relationship but “moral rape”. However, she had written at the end of June 2021 at the Paris prosecutor’s office to withdraw her complaint. The third, ex-escort girl Mounia Rabbouj, accused him of nine rapes committed between 2013 and 2014.
The facts denounced by four of these women – Henda Ayari, “Christelle”, Mounia Rabbouj and one of the two women identified in photos – will be the subject of a trial at the Assizes in the event that the two judges ‘Instruction responsible for this case follow the requisition of the prosecution. 2> The prosecution rejects the idea of a plot against Tariq Ramadan
“Judicial information did not make it possible to establish the reality of a conspiracy as denounced by Tariq Ramadan but rather a common awareness that allowed some to have the courage to denounce the facts they have been victims, “notes the prosecution in his requisitions.