Group cancels Tariq Ramadan event after his arrest over rape accusations
A UK Islamic group was forced to abandon plans to hold an event at Queen Mary University after its speaker, Tariq Ramadan, was arrested over rape allegations.
Critics had slammed the university on social media after a flyer for the event, organised by the Islamic Institute for Development and Research, was posted on Facebook stating the venue was Queen Mary.
One Twitter user, Akeela Ahmed, wrote: “@QMUL why are you allowing Tariq Ramadan to speak at your university when there are allegations of sexual violence against him?”
Another, Aliya Zaidi, said it was “only appropriate to cancel the lecture given the nature of the allegations and to keep students safe”.
The backlash came as the prominent University of Oxford professor was detained by French police on Wednesday as part of an inquiry into rape and assault allegations.
Mr Ramadan, 55, a Swiss national who is the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, has denied accusations from two women that he raped them in 2009 and 2012. He remained in custody in Paris yesterday, with a legal source saying investigators wanted to question him further.
As calls mounted for the event – scheduled for March 3 – to be cancelled or boycotted, Queen Mary distanced itself from any involvement.
“Please note that this event has not been organised by Queen Mary and it is not taking place on our campus,” the university said on Twitter.
A spokesman from the university told The National: “It was never our event. It was misattributed as being at Queen Mary, I’m not entirely sure why that happened.”
French writer Henda Ayari says Mr Ramadan raped her in Paris in 2012. Speaking to Le
Parisien newspaper, she said: “He choked me so hard that I thought I was going to die.” She lodged a rape complaint on October 20. He is also accused of raping another unnamed woman in 2009.
A third woman told Le Parisien in October that Mr Ramadan had sexually harassed her in 2014.
Mr Ramadan has denied all the accusations.