French judiciary convicts the grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder: 18 years in prison for rape

In a notable judicial development that brings an initial conclusion to one of the most controversial cases in France, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced Tariq Ramadan, grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, to 18 years in prison after convicting him of raping three women, in a case that occupied public opinion for years.

The ruling, delivered on Wednesday, crowns a complex judicial process that began in 2017. The court found Ramadan guilty of “rape” and “rape of a person in a state of vulnerability,” emphasizing the seriousness of the acts committed and the clear exploitation of the victims, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.

• Tariq Ramadan’s Appeals Rejected… Latest Developments in the Case of the Grandson of the Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood

• Tariq Ramadan has been accused by a new raping charge

During the reading of the verdict, the presiding judge, Corinne Goetzmann, stressed that “consent to a sexual relationship does not mean consent to all sexual acts without exception,” referring to the nature of the abuses suffered by the victims, which the court described as extremely serious and even part of “a method aimed at psychologically destroying them.”

The sentence was not limited to imprisonment. It was accompanied by strict additional measures, including eight years of judicial and social supervision, mandatory treatment, deprivation of civil and political rights for ten years, and a permanent ban from entering French territory.

• Through the door of a psychiatric hospital… the grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder evades a rape trial

• The Muslim Brotherhood in Ireland: multiple arms and ongoing pressure for regulation

The ruling was issued in absentia after a three-week trial that the defendant and his lawyers did not attend. He failed to appear at the opening hearing on March 2, with his defense stating that he had been hospitalized. They also indicated that he had traveled to Switzerland — in violation of the judicial supervision conditions requiring him to remain in France — claiming he was visiting his ill mother. The court rejected the request to postpone the trial and decided to proceed with the case.

Despite the ruling, the case remains open to further developments, as it may be appealed, meaning that this judicial file has not yet been definitively closed.

• Europe and the Muslim Brotherhood Battle: The Defensive Belt Expands

• The Muslim Brotherhood Has Betrayed the Egyptian Army Since the 1948 War… A Journalist Presents the Evidence

This case comes within a broader context of increasing sexual violence cases in Europe, where the #MeToo movement has strengthened victims’ willingness to break their silence and seek justice.

Observers believe that this ruling, although not final, sends a strong signal about the firmness of the French judiciary in dealing with such crimes and its determination to establish judicial precedents focused on protecting victims and holding perpetrators accountable, regardless of their status or background.

Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, is regarded as one of the most controversial intellectual and religious figures in Europe.

• Experts Warn: Parallel Islamist Systems Threaten France’s National Unity

• Reaching by Any Means: How the Muslim Brotherhood Penetrated France