Islamic Scholar Tariq Ramadan Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Rape in Paris

Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss Islamic scholar and philosopher, was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the Paris criminal court on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, after being convicted of raping three women between 2009 and 2016. The court found him guilty of "rape of a vulnerable person" and characterized his conduct toward the victims as a "campaign of psychological destruction." Ramadan, who was 63 at the time of the verdict, did not appear in court in person. His lawyer cited hospitalization due to multiple sclerosis to explain his absence. The ruling marks the first verdict in a long and turbulent legal saga that has followed Ramadan for nearly a decade.

A legal saga stretching back to the MeToo era The proceedings against Ramadan in France began in 2017, in the wake of the MeToo movement, when multiple women came forward with accusations of rape and sexual violence. The trial itself opened on March 2, 2026, before the Paris criminal court, with Ramadan absent throughout the proceedings. The court ultimately found the charges against him proven across the full span of the alleged offenses, which stretched over seven years. The Paris verdict represents the first judicial outcome in France, though Ramadan's legal troubles have not been confined to French courts alone. Tariq Ramadan rose to prominence as one of the most widely recognized Muslim intellectuals in the Western world, holding academic positions including professor of contemporary Islamic studies at the University of Oxford. He is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, the Egyptian scholar who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. His public profile made the accusations against him, which first emerged publicly in 2017, a matter of significant international attention. The French investigation that followed led to his detention and a series of legal proceedings spanning multiple countries and jurisdictions.

Prior Swiss conviction adds weight to Paris ruling The Paris sentence does not stand as an isolated judgment. Ramadan carries a prior final conviction for rape and sexual coercion in Switzerland, stemming from a separate case in Geneva. That earlier Swiss verdict established a pattern of judicial findings against him across two countries. The accumulation of convictions in different jurisdictions underscores the breadth of the legal proceedings he has faced since 2017. His lawyer has consistently maintained his client's innocence and pointed to his deteriorating health as a central factor in the conduct of the French trial. The 18-year sentence handed down in Paris represents one of the most severe outcomes in a high-profile sexual violence case to emerge from the MeToo era in France. 18 (years) — prison sentence handed down by Paris criminal court

Scholar's academic career overshadowed by conviction Ramadan built his reputation over decades as a Swiss Muslim academic, philosopher, and writer, engaging in debates on Islam, secularism, and Muslim identity in Europe. His family lineage — as the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood — made him a figure of both influence and controversy long before the criminal accusations emerged. Academic institutions distanced themselves from him following the initial allegations in 2017. The Paris court's characterization of his conduct as a "campaign of psychological destruction" against the victims signals that the judges viewed his actions not as isolated incidents but as a sustained pattern of behavior. The verdict closes a chapter of the French proceedings, though the broader legal and reputational consequences for Ramadan will continue to unfold in the months ahead.