Islamic Scholar Ramadan Detained In France Over Rape Allegations

Tariq Ramadan (file photo)

Prominent Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan has been taken into custody in France after being questioned by police in connection with "rape and assault allegations."

French officials said on January 31 that the 55-year-old Ramadan was being held "as part of a preliminary inquiry."

Muslim feminist activist Henda Ayari has accused Ramadan of raping her in a Paris hotel room in 2012.

Another woman, who has not been named publicly, has accused him of raping her in a hotel in Lyon in 2009.

Ramadan denies the allegations, and his lawyers have accused the women of colluding to disgrace him.

Ramadan, whose grandfather founded the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, has taken a leave of absence from his post as a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University.

He appears regularly in the Western media and has more than 2 million followers on Facebook.

Based on reporting by AFP, dpa, and AP