Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan acquitted in Swiss rape trial: court

Swiss academic and Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan has been acquitted of charges of rape and sexual coercion against a woman, under a Geneva court ruling announced on Wednesday.

The charge made by the unnamed Swiss woman, a convert to Islam, related to an alleged incident in a Geneva hotel in 2008. Ramadan had denied the charges.

Oxford University academic Tariq Ramadan acquitted in rape trial https://t.co/25oQiPqZya

— Amara Sophia Elahi (@AmaraSophia) May 24, 2023

Ramadan, 60, is a grandson of Hasan al-Banna, an Islamist thinker and activist who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Geneva, with his thesis focused on his grandfather.

He is a controversial figure as critics see him as a supporter of political Islam. 

Ramadan was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University in the UK, and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco. He was forced to take leave when rape allegations surfaced at the height of the "Me Too" movement in late 2017.