A senior Islamic theologian Tariq Ramadan, who has been recently dismissed from his positions at a university in the Netherlands, described his dismissal as being the result of Western “hypocrisy”.
In a statement, the municipality of Rotterdam and the Erasmus University Rotterdam declared that the Swiss-born theologian’s hosting of a program on Press TV was “irreconcilable” with his position as a guest professor and relieved him from his duties.
Ramadan, who will chair an Islamic studies department at Oxford University in September, has strongly criticized the Dutch authorities over their decision.
“The situation is completely different from what they portray, because I have been working with Press TV on a program mainly focusing on theology, Islamic issues, philosophy and contemporary issues,” Ramadan told Press TV.
“Because of the political climate in the Netherlands and especially in Rotterdam, they use it as a pretext to target the visible Muslim intellectuals and as I am visible in the Netherlands, it is what they were going to do,” he added.
“The Dutch government and the municipality of Rotterdam have direct contacts with Iran and they did not cut it even after the election, so this is all hypocrisy,” Ramadan concluded.
