Noted Islamic scholar and Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan who was recently granted bail by a Paris Court of Appeal in a sexual assault case, in a Facebook post, wrote that he was innocent of all charges held against him and that he would continue to fight for his dignity and honor.
After being released on November 16 following nine and a half months of imprisonment, Ramadan observed that he had been kept in prison ‘for political reasons’.
“The elements of the case, as well as the manner in which the investigation was conducted confirm that I was kept in prison for political reasons,” he wrote on the post published at midnight.
He expressed his gratitude towards his family, his lawyer, and for all those who had shown support to him ‘with great generosity, patience and courage, despite the media lynching, the insults and threats’.
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Talking about his illness-multiple sclerosis and neuropathy- he said that his treatment was incompatible with incarceration, and due to his continuous detention, he was under intense medical treatment.
He asked for his supporters not to slander the plaintiffs, stating that ‘the law and justice will prevail against slander and lies, without having to lose our calm and serenity’.
He thanked the Almighty for ‘giving me the patience and the strength to cope with this ordeal and for granting me the courage to continue this fight to clear my name and for the manifestation of the truth’.
He ended the post by remembering all others who had been similarly incarcerated without receiving proper care, and who had subsequently been ‘forgotten in prison’.
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According to Islam21c, reports suggest that despite medical examinations and multiple physicians confirming that his health condition was incompatible with detention, the French authorities held him under solitary confinement and initially denied him visitation rights for the first 45 days.
Tariq Ramadan was accused of rape in two separate incidents. He 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 had disclosed that Ramadan had raped her in October 2009 in a hotel room in Lyon, southeastern France.
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.
