The decline and fall of Tariq Ramadan

Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and a well-known figure in the Islamic world, has been convicted of the rape and sexual coercion of a woman in a Geneva hotel, after a court overturned an earlier acquittal. Professor Ramadan has been jailed for three years, two suspended, over the 2008 incident.

The verdict marks a remarkable fall from grace for Ramadan, who was raised in exile in Switzerland, and skilfully navigated the Francophone, English and Arabic speaking worlds as an academic, campaigner and theologian. His father, Said Ramadan, was central to the Muslim Brotherhood’s development in Europe. 

While Ramadan was convicted in a court in Switzerland, the repercussions of his downfall will be felt here in the UK. Ramadan’s X account currently gives his location as the United Kingdom and contains the description ‘Emeritus Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford.’