BREAKING NEWS

Prominent Oxford University academic takes leave after sex crime allegations

PARIS - Britain's University of Oxford said one of its professors, the prominent Swiss Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan, had taken a leave of absence from the university, after two women filed complaints against him in France over allegations of rape.
"The University has consistently acknowledged the gravity of the allegations against Professor Ramadan, while emphasizing the importance of fairness and the principles of justice and due process," Oxford University said in a statement.
"An agreed leave of absence implies no presumption or acceptance of guilt and allows Professor Ramadan to address the extremely serious allegations made against him, all of which he categorically denies," it added.
The Geneva-born academic, the grandson of Hasan al-Banna, an Islamist thinker and activist who founded the Muslim Brotherhood, has denied allegations made by the two women, including author Henda Ayari, who said he raped her on the sidelines of a Muslim convention in Lyon in 2012.
He has filed a complaint for slander.