Tariq Ramadan, an Islamic scholar and Oxford university professor, will face criminal charges in Paris today after being detained over rape allegations.
Mr Ramadan, 55, has undergone two days of police questioning over claims by two women that he raped them. He denies any wrong-doing.
In the early hours of Friday, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, was taken to the prosecutor’s office. It came after a meeting in which one of his alleged victims, a disabled woman named as Christelle, provided information about an intimate part of his anatomy, reports The Times. Mr Ramadan has previously denied having any contact with her.
He has denies separate accusations from two Muslim women that he raped them in hotel rooms in 2009 and 2012 in France. Last November, the senior research fellow of St Antony’s College took a leave of absence from the university after the complaints were filed. As well as denying the allegations, he filed a complaint for slander against the writer Henda Ayari, one of his accusers.
Prosecutors will notify Mr Ramadan that he has been placed under criminal investigation on suspicion of sexual assault or rape.
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On Thursday, The National reported that a UK-based Islamic group has been forced to abandon plans to hold an event at Queen Mary University with Mr Ramadan as speaker, after he was taken into custody over rape allegations.
Mr Ramadan has refused to sign the police transcript of his confrontation with Christelle, in which he says he had met her in the hotel lobby in 2009 for thirty minutes.
Christelle has told police that Mr Ramadan has a scar on his groin. Mr Ramadan has confirmed his, according to The Times.
Speaking on French television last year, Christelle told of how she feared for her life when she says Mr Ramadan hit her crutch to make her fall, picked her up by her fair and proceed to sexually assault her over a number of hours.
“It was hell. Blows. Sexual violence. Unspeakable, disgusting language . . . The more I screamed, the more he hit me,” she said.