Switzerland's top court upholds Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan's conviction for rape

Switzerland's highest court upheld on Thursday the conviction of noted Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan for rape and sexual coercion handed down by a regional court last year.

The Swiss federal court said it had rejected Ramadan's appeal, which alleged procedural flaws and an "arbitrary assessment" of the evidence examined by the appeals court in Geneva.

The court decision included intimate details of Ramadan allegedly forcing a woman to have sex and preventing her from leaving a Geneva hotel room in October 2008, as well as social media exchanges they had had before and after.

In September, the Geneva appeals court handed 63-year-old Ramadan a three-year prison sentence, of which two years were suspended.

He was ordered to pay damages to the plaintiff, as well as legal and other fees totalling more than 100,000 Swiss francs (approximately €101,130).

The ruling on Thursday overruled an acquittal by a lower court, which had cited a lack of material evidence.

The 2023 acquittal marked a first victory for the former Oxford scholar who fell from grace after accusations of rape and sexual assault in neighbouring France in 2018.

Ramadan, who is Swiss, was handed preliminary charges for rape over two alleged assaults in France over a decade ago.

He was jailed in February 2018 and released on bail nine months later, pending trial.

A third woman filed a rape complaint against him in France in March 2023.

The outspoken scholar has consistently denied wrongdoing and has filed counter-lawsuits, stating that the allegations are false.