Sawt Falasteen - Swiss court rejects Islamic scholar Ramadan's rape conviction appeal

"The Federal Court dismissed Tariq Ramadan's appeal against the conviction for rape and sexual coercion handed down by the Geneva Court of Justice," the high court said in a statement.

Ramadan's lawyers Yael Hayat and Guerric Canonica said in a statement sent to AFP: "The defence takes note of the decision by the Federal Court and contests it."

They added that "the final word will belong to the European Court of Human Rights".

After being acquitted in 2023, a Geneva appeals court last year found the 63-year-old former Oxford University professor "guilty of rape and sexual coercion" of a woman in a Geneva hotel 17 years ago.

It sentenced him to three years in prison, two of which were suspended.

The ruling marked the first guilty verdict against Ramadan, who faces a string of rape allegations in Switzerland and France.

It was that verdict that the supreme court confirmed on Thursday.

- 'Dismissed' -

Switzerland's supreme court revealed Thursday that it had back in July "dismissed Tariq Ramadan's appeal against the conviction for rape and sexual coercion handed down by the Geneva Court of Justice".

The supreme court said the lower cantonal court verdict was "admissable", concluding in the verdict that Ramadan's appeal did "not demonstrate that the judgement appealed against is based on an arbitrary assessment of the evidence.

"The appeal arguments do not demonstrate any violation of the presumption of evidence by the cantonal court," it added.

"Nothing in the appeal brief renders untenable the conclusion drawn by the cantonal court... (establishing) serious events of a sexual nature".

A charismatic yet controversial figure in European Islam, Ramadan has always maintained his innocence.

His lawyers insisted Thursday that the supreme court decision to reject their appeal "in no way undermines the truth asserted by Mr. Ramadan, even if it does not confirm it".

- 'Long ordeal' -

Lawyers for the woman who brought the complaint -- a Muslim convert identified only as "Brigitte" -- hailed the supreme court decision.

"This marks the end of a long ordeal and a long legal battle for our client and her lawyers," they said in an email statement sent to AFP.

Brigitte had testified before the Geneva appeals court that Ramadan had subjected her to rape and other violent sex acts in a Geneva hotel room during the night of October 28, 2008.

Ramadan had said Brigitte invited herself up to his room. He let her kiss him, he said, before quickly ending the encounter, insisting he was the victim of a "trap".

Brigitte, who was in her forties at the time of the alleged assault, filed her complaint 10 years later, telling the court she felt emboldened to come forward following similar complaints filed against Ramadan in France.

Ramadan was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.

He was forced to take a leave of absence in 2017 when rape allegations surfaced in France at the height of the "Me Too" movement.

In France, he is due to stand trial next year over allegations that he raped three women between 2009 and 2016.

B.AbuZeid--SF-PST