Confidential report unearths Tariq Ramadan’s foul past

Students and former colleagues of Mr Ramadan testify to sexual misconduct in Switzerland

Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan. AP

A devastating new report summarising Swiss investigations into Tariq Ramadan sets out a series of alleged sexual assaults and contacts with underage girls.

The Oxford professor was arrested in France in February on charges of sexual assault, and has since faced allegations in Switzerland of a similar nature.

A Swiss radio report has revealed authorities in Geneva interrogated around 50 people including former students of the academic at the college des Coudriers and the college of Saussure, where he taught French between 1984 and 2004.

The final report disclosed by the French-speaking Radio Lac found that Mr Ramadan “tried to seduce a 14-year-old student with no success, and he managed to have sexual relationships with the other three students aged between 15 and 18.”

It also revealed that Mr Ramadan had sought contact with students outside the premises of the school and that he regularly invited his pupils – both boys and girls – for individual restaurant lunches. One student confessed to having been sexually molested by the scholar in his car.

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According to multiple teachers and students interviewed in the investigation, Mr Ramadan is described as a charismatic figure who always took initiatives in organizing cultural or social events. Some described having a “fascination” for him.

But the proximity to students of a man known to be a seductionist raised suspicion among his peers.

One student had come forward at the time together to denounce the alleged sexual intercourse between Mr Ramadan and his girlfriend. His claims were deemed to be “insufficient” band dismissed.

Mr Ramadan, a married father of four whose grandfather founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, now stands accused of having raped two women in 2009 and 2012, a disabled woman identified in media reports as "Christelle" and feminist activist Henda Ayari.

The new revelations come on the heels of a Paris court ruling that granted Mr Ramadan conditional release after he testified in an appeals court. It is not yet clear whether this decision will be overturn following the revelations contained in the report.

The 56-year-old Swiss academic, who has been in custody in France since February 2, denied all rape charges and claimed the relationships had been consensual.

He portrayed his accusers as liars bending media attention in the case to their benefit, asking: "Who has instrumentalised the 'Me Too' movement?”

Mr Ramadan was a professor at Oxford University until he was forced to take leave when the rape allegations surfaced at the height of the "Me Too" movement.