Professor criticised for defence of rape accused

AN OXFORD University academic has been criticised for defending a colleague accused of sexual assault amid claims he has been smeared for being a “prominent Muslim”.

Prof Eugene Rogan, the director of Oxford’s Middle East Centre, has come to the defence of Tariq Ramadan, the Islamic theologian who is currently being investigated by French police.

Prof Ramadan was last week accused of rape by three women in France, and has since been accused of making sexual advances by four Swiss women.

Prof Ramadan has strongly denied all the allegations and claimed on Facebook that he was the subject of a “campaign of slander” orchestrated

by his “longtime adversaries”. He has also filed for libel in the French courts.

Oxford is yet to take any action against Prof Ramadan, who is a Qatar-funded fellow of St Antony’s College and member of the Middle East Centre.

Prof Regan has also been criticised for comments made in a faculty meeting last week, in which he suggested that the allegations amounted to “Europeans” attempting to “gang up against a prominent Muslim intellectual”.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, a postgraduate student said: “My view is that [Prof Rogan’s comments] encourage a culture of diminished responsibility among ethnic minority groups.”

Prof Rogan said: “I have always stressed that the allegations against Tariq Ramadan are extremely serious.

“Although he denies them categorically, I want to be absolutely clear that my paramount concern is the safety and welfare of students.”