By Sammie Jones-
The alleged victim of an Oxford University professor told a court last Friday that she was subjected to a horrifying rape ordeal in a French hotel.
Oxford Uni Islamic Scholar, 55 year old Ramadan is facing a tough rape case that presents him as a beast, after being charged by French Police on Friday. Held in custody in a French Jail, one of his complainants went into graphic detail on Friday in describing how Ramadan subjected her to a violent rape in a French hotel.
The arrest of the Oxford University professor was sparked by two women who claim he assaulted them in French hotel rooms. One of his accusers is writer and feminist activist Henda Ayari . Ramadan has stepped down from his position at Oxford University under a mutual understanding with the University.
His other accuser faced the Oxford University professor in court when she testified for three and-a-half hours, in the presence of Ramadan’s lawyers Yacine Bouzrou and Julie Granier, and counsel for his alleged victim Eric Morain.
Earlier, the authorities conducted two searches, in an apartment where the theologian had an office in Saint-Denis, and the other in Haute-Savoie, on the French-Swiss border, where he has his principal residence.
“Tariq Ramadan gave me an appointment at the bar of the Hilton Hotel in Lyon, where he had come down for a conference in October 2009,” the 45-year-old woman told the court. She was a new French convert to Islam had since December 31, 2008 been corresponding with Ramadan, seeking his advice, as many others who follow his writings do.
The woman alleges that their relationship suddenly changed when Ramadan who was living away from his wife, promised her a religious marriage and a temporary marriage via Skype. However, the meeting in Lyon was their first, where Ramadan was attending a conference on “Living together, Islamophobia and Palestine”.
“After 10 minutes, he said to me, ‘We cannot stay here, everyone is watching. I am a well-known person, and the Maghrebian at the reception recognized me and does not stop to look at us’,” she alleged in her complaint. Ramadan went to her room by the stairs whilst she took the elevator because of a crutch she uses because of a car accident.
Violent assault
According to the complainant, the assault occurred very soon after she entered the the room. She alleges slaps to the face, arms, breasts and punches in the belly, oral sex and sodomy imposed by force, new blows, a new rape. “He dragged me by the hair all over the room to get me into the bathtub to urinate on me,” she said in her complaint, claiming to have finally managed to escape only in the morning.
The complainant was detailed in her account, even pointing to a small scar in her attacker’s groin, which Ramadan has admitted At the end of this tense exchange, the Islamic scholar refused to sign the minutes.
Last November 7, 2017, the University of Oxford decided “by mutual agreement” with Ramadan that he went on temporary leave of absence from the position of professor of contemporary Islamic studies.
In recent days, it is Qatar, which has been funding the chair of theology – bearing the name of Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, emir of Qatar from 1995 to 2013 – an academic position which was held by Ramadan, who has hinted that he was no longer welcome in the emirate.
BROTHERHOOD
Ramadan is a Swiss citizen whose grandfather, Hassan al-Banna, founded Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Ramadan wrote in an October post on Facebook: “Unfounded allegations can never take the place of concrete truth. These accusations are simply false, and betray all the ideals I have long strived for and believed in.”
No defendant of rape ever admits the crime, the courts will decide whether he is in fact guilty or not
Accusations date to 2009 and 2012-
Two accusations against Ramadan were filed in October, related to alleged incidents in 2009 and 2012, CNN affiliate BFM reported.
The first woman to accuse Ramadan of rape is Henda Ayari, a former Ramadan follower who has since become a secular activist. She publicly accused him in a Facebook post and later told The New York Times she “could not forget what happened to (her) that night with him.”
A second accuser, a disabled woman who has not been named, has also accused Ramadan of rape, BFM reported last month.
“If there are other victims in France or elsewhere, they now know that justice will take notice of what they have been through,” Ayari’s lawyer, Jonas Haddad, told Le Monde newspaper Friday.
Ayari will soon face Ramadan in court, Haddad told BFMTV.