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Oxford professor claims sex with alleged rape victims was consensual

This article is more than 12 months old

PARIS : Leading Oxford Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, charged with raping two women in France, claimed on Monday that he had consensual sex with both of them after previously denying any physical contact.

Ramadan, 56, a well-known TV commentator, has strongly denied accusations that he raped the women in hotel rooms as an attempted smear by his opponents.

His lawyer, Mr Emmanuel Marsigny, said the Swiss academic had changed his account of what happened on the basis of text messages that have emerged between him and his accusers.

The messages "show that the plaintiffs lied and that the sexual encounters were wanted, consensual and even sought again afterwards", Mr Marsigny said.

The unearthing of these messages "has allowed him to acknowledge that he had sexual relations" with the women, Mr Marsigny added.

Ramadan, accused of raping the women in 2009 and 2012, has been in custody since Feb 2.

He previously insisted he had no sexual contact with his two accusers, a disabled woman known in media reports as "Christelle" and feminist activist Henda Ayari .

Married with four children, Ramadan was a professor at Oxford University until he was forced to take leave when the rape allegations surfaced at the height of the #MeToo movement late last year.

Last month, a computer expert working on the investigation retrieved 399 text messages between Ramadan and Christelle, whom he is accused of raping in a Lyon hotel room in 2009.

The text messages detailed his violent sexual fantasies ahead of the alleged attack.

In one message - sent on an unknown date - Christelle wrote to Ramadan: "I missed you as soon as you left".

But Christelle's lawyers have argued that the messages showed their sexual encounter was non-consensual and that Ramadan was aware of it.

Records show that he wrote to her afterwards: "I sensed your unease... apologies for my 'violence'."

Ramadan previously said his only face-to-face contact with Christelle was to have a drink in the hotel bar, describing her as a "compulsive liar".

But her lawyer Eric Morain said on Monday that Ramadan had been "lying for 11 months" while "beating his chest and presenting himself as a hero of the truth".- AFP

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