Islamic scholar's rape acquittal overturned by Geneva court

GENEVA (Reuters) - A Swiss appeals court has overturned the acquittal of a prominent Islamic scholar on charges of rape and sexual coercion against a woman, Geneva's cantonal government said on Tuesday.

Tariq Ramadan is a grandson of Hasan al-Banna, an Islamist thinker and activist who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. He has denied the charges made by an unnamed Swiss woman relating to an alleged 2008 incident in a Geneva hotel.

The ruling by a Geneva criminal court of appeal, dated Aug. 28, reversed his acquittal from May 2023 and sentenced him to three years in prison, of which one must be served.

"The Criminal Appeal and Review Division found that several testimonies, certificates, medical notes and opinions of private experts aligned with the complainant's testimony," the Geneva canton's government said in a statement said.

Ramadan can appeal the ruling to a higher Swiss federal court.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; editing by Mark Heinrich)