Noted Islamic scholar and Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan broke his silence after a year following accusations of rape, stating that he had engaged in “sex games” with the two women who had accused him in France, but said the “submissive-dominant” relationships were consensual, Reuters reported.
After taking a leave of absence from Oxford University following the accusations, Ramadan addressed the claims recently.
“He can finally speak freely, and he’s relieved,” his lawyer, Emmanuel Marsigny, told reporters after Ramadan was heard by investigators in Paris.
He also reportedly faced one of the accusers in a 10-hour confrontation on September 18.
The woman is an Islam convert who is differently abled on behest of a car accident. She disclosed that Ramadan raped her in October 2009 in a hotel room in Lyon, southeastern France.
Ramadan said he had “relations akin to sex games of the submissive-dominant kind, but always in a consensual and knowing way,” his lawyer said.
“It has been one year now that Mr Ramadan’s defendants have been playing tricks to save his cause. But the truth is that he lied from the beginning of this case by denying he had sexual relations and that it took one year to confess,” Jonas Haddad, a lawyer for the other plantiff, Henda Ayari, was quoted by Reuters as having said.
“Will it take him another year to confess the rest?” he said.
Ramadan’s lawyer said a series of text messages found in the two women’s mobile phones showed the relations were consensual. He filed a request for Ramadan, in custody since he was notified of the French investigation on February 2, to be freed.
Ramadan is the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hasan al-Banna and is married with four children. He is famous for having challenged the restrictions by France on veils. He is also currently embroiled in another rape complaint by a Swiss woman in Geneva.
