The Paris Court of Appeal has decided to refer Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna, to a French criminal court on charges of raping three women, excluding the case of a fourth woman from its decision, according to lawyers familiar with the case.
The investigative chamber of the Court of Appeal reviewed on March 29 the appeal filed by Tariq Ramadan's defense lawyers, who is 61 years old, against the decision to refer him to a criminal court issued in July 2023 by investigating judges in Paris.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthieu Bourret had requested in written submissions that one count of rape against Tariq Ramadan be maintained, specifically for the rape of "Christelle" under aggravated circumstances in Lyon in October 2009. The representative of the public prosecutor's office had deemed that the elements were present to classify the case as a similar crime.
He excluded any "influence" of Ramadan on "Christelle" and the other plaintiffs, including Hind Ayari, who had subscribed to Salafi ideology before becoming a secular activist, igniting the Ramadan scandal by filing a complaint in October 2017 for having been raped by him in 2012 in Paris, and Munia Rabouj, the former escort girl who accuses him of raping her nine times between 2013 and 2014, in addition to a third woman who filed a complaint against him for actions dating back to 2016.
Ramadan's lawyers had requested the dismissal of these cases. However, the Court of Appeal took a different position from the Paris public prosecutor's office and the investigating judges in the French capital, excluding only Munia Rabouj's case, according to sources familiar with the file.
Lawyers Lor Haniche and Laura Ben Kamoun, representing "Christelle" and Munia Rabouj, denounced the "incomprehensible" decision. Haniche stated, “Why was one excluded and not the others? No one understands this decision,” which does not allow for a resolution of the case “with all its complex elements.”
On his part, David Olivier-Kaminski, the lawyer for Hind Ayari, praised what he described as a "victory for the judiciary," stating, “Ms. Ayari will have the right to a trial that will determine whether Mr. Tariq Ramadan is indeed innocent or guilty.”
Pascal Garbarini, one of Ramadan's lawyers, stated that "the struggle for his innocence continues." The lawyer who requested the dismissal of the case asserted that "there are no elements from a material or influence perspective" against his client.
