Tariq Ramadan’s Controversial Book Cleared for Publication Despite Accuser’s Objection

The Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance was clear in its decision. According to the French judicial authority, the identity of this plaintiff had already been made public. In its view, the plaintiff’s request "would constitute an excessive and disproportionate infringement of Tariq Ramadan’s freedom of expression."

According to the Tribunal, this woman has already suffered prejudice due to the dissemination of her name without her consent, thus condemning the Muslim intellectual to pay her a symbolic euro.

Earlier on Monday, September 9, Christelle, the plaintiff, according to the French media, had summoned the author and his publisher to have this book, "Devoir de vérité", modified before any commercialization and that her surname, which appears 84 times in it, be removed. To achieve her goal and make herself heard, the victim based her request on the French law that prohibits the dissemination of the identity of victims of sexual assault.

For his part, Tariq Ramadan, in this work, recounts how he experienced the case that broke out in the fall of 2017 and caused his downfall, in a text tinged with spiritual meditations. A long-influential but controversial figure in European Islam, Tariq Ramadan, 57, has been indicted since February 2018 for the rapes of two women in France.

He spent nearly ten months in pre-trial detention before being released in November. After initially denying any sexual relations with these two women, he was contradicted by the investigation, which mentioned "consented relations". The Swiss theologian is also accused by two other women of rape, one of which was in a group.

With these many accusations of extramarital affairs, the aura that Tariq Ramadan enjoyed among part of the Muslims has taken a hit. On Monday, the Federation "Musulmans de France" (ex-UOIF) said it was "betrayed by the behavior" of the theologian. Also accused of rape by a woman in Switzerland, Tariq Ramadan is to be heard this fall in Paris by a prosecutor from Geneva.