News Desk |
Tariq Ramadan, an internationally acclaimed Islamic scholar at Oxford University confessed to having “consensual sex” with the accusers in French rape case. Last year, Tariq Ramadan was accused of raping two French women in 2009 and 2012. Since the reporting of the cases, he was sent on forced leaves by the university’s administration.
Tariq Ramadan has been in custody since February 2nd and was denied bail despite his multiple requests to treat his sclerosis. At first, he denied the allegations and stated having no physical contact with the victims. Ramadan changed his account after messages were retrieved between him and the two accusers.
The messages “show that the plaintiffs lied and that the sexual encounters were wanted, consensual, and even sought again afterwards”, said his lawyer Emmanuel Marsigny. The unearthing of these messages “has allowed him to acknowledge that he had sexual relations” with the women, Marsigny said.
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“Ramadan accepted the relations akin to sex games of the submissive-dominant kind, but always in a consensual and knowing way,” further added his lawyer.
Last year two French women, a feminist activist Henda Ayari and a disabled woman referred as “Christelle” who was a convert to Islam, claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Tariq Ramadan. While the accusers blamed him of raping them, Ramadan earlier refused of having any physical contact with the ladies has now admitted being involved in the “sexual games” with Christelle.
Nearly, 399 messages have been recovered that shows the scholar’s violent sexual fantasies he shared with both Christelle and Henda. A recording also shows Ramadan later apologized to Christelle who accused him of rape in a room at Lyon Hotel in 2009.
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Tariq Ramadan, the father of four and the grandson of the founder of Muslim Brotherhood was heard saying “I sensed your unease… apologies for my ‘violence’.”
The cases were reported against him last year during the peak of #MeToo movement. The rape cases have negatively impacted his popularity among young Muslims. He was a regular participant in the debates related to Islam on French media. He was amongst the lead critics for opposing the ban on women’s veil in France.