France ordered the arrest of Islamic theologian Tariq Ramadan for committing three violations

The French justice system issued an arrest warrant against the Islamic theologian Tariq Ramadan, who will be tried in absentia by the Criminal Court of Paris after failing to appear in the trial in which he is accused of brutally raping three women. His absence forced the magistrates to evaluate whether there was a medical cause justifying

their absence.

Ramadan had been hospitalized in Geneva a few days before the start of the trial. His lawyers argued that the theologian suffers from multiple sclerosis and that a worsening of the disease prevented him from traveling to France to appear in court, pointing out that the accused was weakened and that he needed a period of rest before

coming to justice.

However, the Criminal Court of Paris requested an independent medical expert to verify the situation. The experts appointed by the courts concluded that the preacher's illness remains stable and that there is no recent deterioration to explain his absence. According to that report, his state of health did not represent a real impediment to attending the trial

.

The Office of the Prosecutor considered that delaying the trial was unacceptable. The prosecutors maintained that the preacher's conduct evidenced a willingness to avoid judicial proceedings, so they requested that he be tried in absentia and that an arrest warrant be issued to guarantee his appearance.

The accusations against Ramadan date back to events that occurred between 2009 and 2016. During the investigation, three women reported being victims of violent rape, describing extremely brutal sexual encounters. At first, the theologian denied having any relationship with the complainants

.

With the advancement of the cause, however, the preacher ended up acknowledging that he had sexual encounters with them, although he maintained that the relationships were consensual. The case generated great repercussions in Europe due to the public profile of the accused, who for years was an influential figure within the Islamic intellectual sphere and in various

academic spaces.

In addition, Ramadan has already been sentenced in Switzerland to three years in prison, two of them in effective compliance, for similar acts. In France, he now faces charges for violently aggravated violations, crimes that in the French criminal system can carry sentences of up to 20 years

in prison.