A Paris criminal court on March 25 sentenced 63-year-old Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, to 18 years in prison in absentia for raping three women. Despite an arrest warrant, he remains near Geneva in psychiatric treatment at the Clinique du Grand-Salève. Penalties include eight years of socio-judicial supervision and a lifetime ban from French territory.
The Paris criminal court delivered its verdict on March 25, 2026, against Tariq Ramadan, tried in absentia since March 2 for rapes against three women: Christelle in Lyon in October 2009 (with violence on a vulnerable person), Henda Ayari in Paris in 2012, and a third woman in 2016. The 63-year-old preacher, grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, was absent citing a multiple sclerosis flare-up and hospitalization in Switzerland, despite judicial restrictions. A medical certificate claimed he was 'depleted of vital energy,' but a March 6 neurological assessment found 'stability with no recent flare-up,' according to presiding judge Corinne Goetzmann. The trial proceeded behind closed doors, issuing an immediate arrest warrant.
Defense lawyers, including Me Ouadie Elhamamouchi, denounced it as a 'parody of justice' and walked out, alleging 'judicial harassment.' Prosecutors retorted that Ramadan 'uses all means to avoid appearing.' Victim lawyer Me David-Olivier Kaminski viewed it as evasion. Judges described violence including 'hand holding and forcing the head, body's weight, mad gaze, domination words.' Ramadan initially denied relations, later admitting 'consensual' rough encounters. A fourth complainant and 'emprise' charge were dropped by appeals court.
In September 2024, Swiss courts sentenced him to three years (one firm) for a 2008 Geneva rape, currently under appeal.
The court imposed 18 years imprisonment, eight years socio-judicial supervision (barring victim contact and related publications), ten years deprivation of civil/civic rights, and permanent ban from France.
As of early April, Ramadan remains at the Clinique du Grand-Salève near Geneva for psychiatric care. A support account on X compared the case to the Dreyfus affair: «There was the Dreyfus affair. Today, there is the Ramadan affair... Shall we let it happen?»
