Swiss Supreme Court Upholds Tariq Ramadan’s Rape Conviction Despite Appeal

Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan delivers a speech during a French Muslim organizations meeting in Lille, northern France, Feb. 7, 2016

Switzerland’s highest court has upheld the conviction of prominent Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan for rape and sexual coercion, rejecting his appeal against a ruling handed down by a regional court in Geneva last year.

The federal court announced Thursday that Ramadan’s appeal was dismissed after he alleged procedural flaws and what he called an “arbitrary assessment” of the evidence. The decision confirms the Geneva appeals court’s ruling, which overturned a previous acquittal by a lower court.

Court documents detailed how Ramadan forced a woman to have sex and prevented her from leaving a Geneva hotel room in October 2008. Evidence included intimate testimony and social media exchanges between Ramadan and the plaintiff before and after the incident.

Ramadan’s defense lawyer, Yaël Hayat, expressed “huge disappointment” at the ruling and confirmed plans to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. “This result is shocking and disturbing. For us, there were flaws that made it very clear that Tariq Ramadan was innocent. The fight continues,” she said.

In September, the Geneva appeals court sentenced Ramadan, 63, to three years in prison, with two years suspended. He was also ordered to pay damages to the plaintiff and legal fees amounting to more than 100,000 Swiss francs (approximately $118,000).

A lower court had acquitted him in 2023, citing insufficient material evidence, marking a short-lived victory for the former Oxford University scholar. His reputation had already been damaged in 2018 when he faced multiple accusations of rape and sexual assault in France.

Ramadan, a Swiss national, was jailed in February 2018 after being handed preliminary charges for rape in connection with two alleged assaults in France dating back more than a decade. He was released on bail nine months later, pending trial. In March 2023, a third woman came forward in France with a rape complaint.

The Islamic scholar has consistently denied all allegations, insisting the accusations are false and politically motivated, and has filed multiple suits in his defense. Despite his continued claims of innocence, the latest ruling from Switzerland’s highest court solidifies his conviction and leaves the European Court of Human Rights as his next legal recourse.