Muslim activist details rape claims against Oxford professor

Published October 31, 2017
Prof Tariq Ramadan.
Prof Tariq Ramadan.

PARIS: A Muslim feminist activist who has accused prominent Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan of violent rape detailed her claims in a hard-hitting interview on Monday.

The leading Oxford professor, whose grandfather founded Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, is facing investigations in France for the alleged rape of two women. Ramadan has denied the accusations as a “campaign of lies launched by my adversaries”.

Henda Ayari, a former Muslim fundamentalist who says Ramadan raped her in a Paris hotel room in 2012, said she was encouraged to speak out against him publicly by the “Me Too” campaign sweeping the world.

“It was the #BalanceTonPorc campaign that pushed me to reveal his name,” she told the Parisien newspaper, in reference to France’s version of the hashtag which means “Expose your pig”.

Ayari, who lodged a rape complaint against the 55-year-old Swiss national on October 20, charged that for Tariq Ramadan, “either you wear a veil or you get raped”. “He choked me so hard that I thought I was going to die,” she added. She had detailed the encounter in a book published last year, without naming her alleged attacker.

A second unnamed woman on Friday also accused Ramadan of raping her in a hotel room in 2009.

Ramadan has filed counter-charges for libel and wrote on Facebook on Saturday that a new suit would follow “within a few days, in response to the campaign of lies launched by my adversaries”. “These accusations are simply false, and betray all the ideals I have long strived for and believed in,” he wrote.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2017

Opinion

Editorial

Military option
Updated 21 Nov, 2024

Military option

While restoring peace is essential, addressing Balochistan’s socioeconomic deprivation is equally important.
HIV/AIDS disaster
21 Nov, 2024

HIV/AIDS disaster

A TORTUROUS sense of déjà vu is attached to the latest health fiasco at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital. The largest...
Dubious pardon
21 Nov, 2024

Dubious pardon

IT is disturbing how a crime as grave as custodial death has culminated in an out-of-court ‘settlement’. The...
Islamabad protest
Updated 20 Nov, 2024

Islamabad protest

As Nov 24 draws nearer, both the PTI and the Islamabad administration must remain wary and keep within the limits of reason and the law.
PIA uncertainty
20 Nov, 2024

PIA uncertainty

THE failed attempt to privatise the national flag carrier late last month has led to a fierce debate around the...
T20 disappointment
20 Nov, 2024

T20 disappointment

AFTER experiencing the historic high of the One-day International series triumph against Australia, Pakistan came...