Islamic Scholar Tariq Ramadan Faces New Rape Charges in Paris Court

According to the AFP, the Islamic scholar was heard, this Thursday, by the Parisian investigating judges, more than a year after his last interrogation on the merits of the case. Three weeks earlier, he was expected for the same hearing, which was postponed following his fainting on the ground floor of the courthouse.

Alongside him, his lawyer, Me Emmanuel Marsigny, denounced "a desire to prosecute his client, come what may, and this against the evidence". He also points out that the lies of the first accusers are now clearly established. "His client, he denounces, is again indicted while the first woman targeted has herself declared that the relations had been "consented" and that the other woman never complained about their two meetings". "This case is becoming grotesque; it is also very worrying because of its drift and the perversion of the rules of law," he noted.

Other accusations have been brought against the theologian, including that of Mounia Rabbouj, who accuses him of nine rapes over the period 2013-2014. For these acts, he is not being prosecuted. Since the last interrogation, the investigation has been extended to the case of three new potential victims. Among them, a woman nicknamed "Elvira" became, last summer, the 4th woman in France to file a complaint against this figure of European Islam, long popular and controversial.

For his part, Tariq Ramadan denounces the "lies" of these accusers and "the media frenzy". Banned from leaving the territory since his release from prison, the Islamic scholar wishes in particular to resume consultations with the British doctors who confirmed his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2016.