Paris criminal court sentenced Tariq Ramadan to 18 years in prison in absentia on Wednesday for raping three women. The 63-year-old Islamic scholar, absent throughout the three-week trial due to health reasons, was found guilty as per prosecutors' requests. The ruling includes eight years of judicial supervision and a lifetime ban from French territory after serving the sentence.
Paris criminal court delivered its verdict on March 25, 2026, in the trial of Tariq Ramadan, heard in absentia since March 2 for rapes on three complainants: 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 defendant's bench remained empty, the 63-year-old scholar citing multiple sclerosis flare-up, including hospitalization in Switzerland despite judicial control barring him from leaving France. A medical certificate described him as 'depleted of vital energy' needing rest, but a March 6 neurological expertise concluded 'stability of multiple sclerosis with no recent flare-up,' per presiding judge Corinne Goetzmann. The court proceeded in closed session and issued an immediate arrest warrant. Defense lawyers, including Me Ouadie Elhamamouchi, called it a 'parody of justice' and walked out, decrying 'judicial harassment.' 'Tariq Ramadan uses all means to avoid appearing,' countered the prosecutor. Me David-Olivier Kaminski, for one victim, saw it as intent 'to elude the debate.' Investigating judges detailed violence: 'the hand holding and forcing the head, the body's weight, the mad gaze, words of domination.' Initially denying sexual relations, Ramadan admitted 'consensual' but rough encounters. The appeals court dropped a fourth complainant and the 'emprise' concept. In September 2024, he was sentenced in Switzerland to three years (one firm) for a 2008 Geneva rape, now under appeal. The court imposed eight years' supervision, barring victim contact and publications on the offense.
