“Support for Henda Ayari,” translated from “Soutien à Henda Ayari“: But who is the victim? The complainant or the accused? Tariq Ramadan is being prosecuted for several rapes and sexual assaults. He is free, placed under judicial control. Since filing her complaint, Henda Ayari has been regularly harassed; she is subjected to intimidation, insults, and […]
Tariq Ramadan raped her with “untold violence”; she said she’d tell cops, he said “You don’t know how powerful I am”
Whether or not he actually raped her, that part is undeniably true. Tariq Ramadan is or was extremely powerful. As a moderate Muslim who told Westerners soothing fictions about how Islam was reforming and perfectly compatible with democracy, he commanded handsome sums to speak and top positions at Western universities. The world was at his […]
Tariq Ramadan: The Foul Fiend’s Foul Past (Part One)
Yesterday I discussed the new report on Tariq Ramadan, the “towering intellect” and “leading Islamic scholar,” that has just been released by the Swiss authorities. It details his life as a high school teacher in Geneva and serial seducer of his underage Swiss students, among whom four came forward months ago to accuse him of […]
Hugh Fitzgerald: For Tariq Ramadan, Another Shoe Drops
Tariq Ramadan, the “towering intellect” and “leading Islamic scholar,” has just had another shoe drop. But before getting to the latest installment of our seriocomic tale, let’s begin at the beginning. To refresh memories, Ramadan is currently being held in a French prison, and has been there since February 2, while awaiting trial on charges […]
Hugh Fitzgerald: The Calendrical Confusions of Henda Ayari Not Enough to Set Tariq Ramadan Free
Henda Ayari, the former Salafist who was the first of many women in France, Switzerland, Belgium, and the United States to accuse Tariq Ramadan of violent sexual assault and rape, has never wavered in her vivid account of what he did to her. But from the very beginning, she has had a hard time, as she has […]
Hugh Fitzgerald: Tariq Ramadan Accuser Henda Ayari Corrects Herself
Henda Ayari, the first woman to have accused Tariq Ramadan of sexual assault, has changed her account of the events that led up to the incident, the French daily Liberation first reported on Wednesday, May 30. Here is the story from Al Jazeera: “Tariq Ramadan’s accuser changes details of rape account,” Al Jazeera, May 30, […]
Tariq Ramadan rape accuser says he told her he was raping her “because you don’t wear a hijab”
There are new items of interest to those following the tale of Tariq Ramadan, here and here. The first item is about Tariq Ramadan’s health. It’s partly old news: the claim that he has been suffering from multiple sclerosis — apparently, according to his lawyers, “since 2006,” though it was only revealed after he was […]
Video: Tariq Ramadan declares himself victim of a “media lynching”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJub_-X2eT4] In mid-November, Tariq Ramadan made a video declaring himself to be the victim of a “media lynching.” That video has just surfaced. It’s quite a performance. Again and again, in his softest, gentlest voice, the voice of someone who knows he is innocent, Ramadan looks deeply, truly, sincerely into the camera to repeatedly declare his […]
Tariq Ramadan: Now We Are Three
A third woman in France — known only as “Marie” — has just come forward to accuse Tariq Ramadan of doing what apparently comes naturally to him: that is, to have raped her repeatedly, and to have subjected her to “violent and sexually degrading acts” during a “dozen meetings” between February 2013 and June 2014. […]
Hugh Fitzgerald: Tariq Ramadan Could Face Charges in the U.S.
For Tariq Ramadan, the news gets worse and worse. First, there were the charges against him in France, where two Muslim women, Henda Ayari and a woman known only by an alias, “Christelle,” both accused him of extreme sexual violence and rape. He now sits in a French prison, waiting trial, his sudden claim about having […]