A leading Islamic scholar at Oxford University has been cleared of a raping a prostitute who took part in orgies with the former head of the International Monetary Fund.
Mounia Rabbouj, who is French and in her late 40s, accused Professor Tariq Ramadan, 55 and a married father of four, of sexually attacking her nine times between 2013 and 2014.
This was soon after Rabbouji became known for taking part in hotel sex parties in Lille, northern France, with ‘VIP guests’ including former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 69.
Tariq Ramadan was cleared of nine counts of rape by a French court, but still stands accused in two other cases which he also denies
Professor Ramadan, who is in custody while facing trial for two other rapes, admitted ‘consensual sexual relations’ with Ms Rabbouj.
But the Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and teacher at the university’s Faculty of Theology and Religion, has always denied any criminal behaviour.
Following a court session in Paris on Tuesday, the academic’s lawyer, Emmanuel Marsigny, said: ‘The magistrates considered, following explanations from Professor Ramadan, and the presentation of documents, that there was no need to investigate Professor Ramadan further.
‘He explained at length to the magistrates that there had been sexual games, that there had been sexual relations as well, but they were always free and consensual.’
Mr Strauss-Kahn was cleared of ‘aggravated pimping’ in his own case involving Ms Rabbouj following a trial in Lille in 2013. Like Professor Ramadan, Mr Strauss-Kahn admitted having an unconventional private life involving prostitutes, but always denied any criminality too.
In 2011 he was accused of sexually assaulting a cleaning lady in a hotel in New York, and was forced to resign from the IMF, but the case against him in America collapsed. He later paid his accuser an undisclosed sum, believed to be in seven figures, as part of a civil settlement.
Professor Ramadan, who has been incarcerated without trial since February, despite numerous bail applications.
This has led to his family and high-profile supporters, including many in Britain, saying he has been targeted because he is an outspoken Muslim.
His most high-profile accuser, Henda Ayari, 41, is a feminist activist actively backed by French secularists who have been ideological enemies of Professor Ramadan for many years.
Ms Ayari claims she was raped in a Paris hotel room in 2012, while a second woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – says the same thing happened to her in Lyon in 2009.
Ms Rabbouj filed her own complaint in March, but it has now been struck off the file.
Professor Ramadan is suffering from multiple sclerosis and is suing Ms Ayari for slander.
The academic’s eldest daughter, Maryam Ramadam, has attacked the treatment of her father as a ‘media lynching’.
‘I have a lot of questions about how my father’s case has been handled,’ said Ms Ramadan, ‘He has been considered guilty since the beginning.’