Tariq Ramadan, Oxford Professor of Contemporary Islam, is facing fresh accusations of sexual assault.
A woman, as yet unnamed, came forward and gave a report to French police in May of this year, details of which surfaced recently following a leak to Le Journal du Dimanche and Europe 1. The assault itself is alleged to have happened in 2014. This comes after numerous women accused Ramadan of sexual assault and manipulation.
The first accusations against Ramadan emerged in October 2017, when activist Henda Ayari filed a complaint with the prosecutorโs office in Rouen, which said that Ramadan had sexually assaulted her in a Paris hotel room. Ayari had previously recorded the incident without naming the perpetrator in her 2016 book โJโai choisi dโรชtre libreโ (โI Chose to be Freeโ).
Just days after Ayari came forward, a second woman filed a complaint stating that Ramadan assaulted and raped her in his hotel room.
Since then, further accusations have been made about Ramadanโs behaviour, including by a third woman who claimed that Ramadan sent her โpornographicโ messages as well as threatening and blackmailing her, as well as four women who came forward with allegations that Ramadan sexually assaulted them while they were teenagers.
On 31 January 2018, Ramadan was taken into custody by the French police, and was released on bail nine months later.
Although Ramadan continued to teach for a short while after the first allegations surfaced, on 7th November 2017 he took an โagreed leave of absenceโ from his University duties. At the time, the faculty of Theology and Religion apologized for their โlack of communicationโ with students.
Eugene Rogan, director of the Middle East Centre when Ramadan was suspended, said the following at the time; โItโs not just about sexual violence. For some students itโs just another way for Europeans to gang up against a prominent Muslim intellectual. We must protect Muslim students who believe and trust in him, and protect that trustโ.
The Universityโs statement on the Ramadan accusations said: โThe University has consistently acknowledged the gravity of the allegations against Professor Ramadan, while emphasising the importance of fairness and the principles of justice and due process.โย
โAn agreed leave of absence implies no presumption or acceptance of guilt and allows Professor Ramadan to address the extremely serious allegations made against him, all of which he categorically denies, while meeting our principal concern – addressing heightened and understandable distress, and putting first the wellbeing of our students and staff.โ
A statement posted on Ramadanโs website acknowledged the new allegations, saying โI am, of course, aware of the investigationโs new elements and the new complaint, which the media spoke of abundantly on Sunday, August 25th.โ โI will speak in the coming days to present the facts with determination, clarity and serenity. In sha Allahโ.