Paris
\nLeading 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.<\/p>\n
Ramadan, a well-known TV commentator, has strongly denied accusations that he raped the women in hotel rooms as an attempted smear by his opponents.
\nHis lawyer 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 two accusers.<\/p>\n
The messages \u201cshow that the plaintiffs lied and that the sexual encounters were wanted, consensual and even sought again afterwards\u201d, Marsigny said.
\nThe unearthing of these messages \u201chas allowed him to acknowledge that he had sexual relations\u201d with the women, Marsigny said.<\/p>\n
He previously insisted he had no sexual contact with his two accusers, feminist activist Henda Ayari and a disabled woman known in media reports as \u201cChristelle\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ramadan was a professor at Oxford University until he was forced to take leave when the rape allegations surfaced at the height of the \u201cMe Too\u201d movement late last year.<\/p>\n
The married father of four, whose grandfather founded Egypt\u2019s Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly sought bail arguing that being in prison is making it difficult to treat his multiple sclerosis.<\/p>\n
The courts have so far rejected his requests, ruling that he can receive adequate treatment in the prison hospital at Fresnes in the southern Paris suburbs.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, the records show that he wrote to her: \u201cI sensed your unease… apologies for my \u2018violence\u2019.\u201d Ramadan previously claimed he was involved in a \u201cgame of seduction\u201d with Christelle, online and on the telephone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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