At the end of the 1950s, Saïd Ramadan, the son-in-law of Hassan al-Banna (founder of the Muslim Brotherhood) fled Egypt and chose Geneva to set out to conquer the West. His son Hani has headed the Islamic Centre of Geneva (ICG) since 1995. His brother Tariq was the best-known French-speaking Muslim on the planet, before vice scandals toppled him in 2017. Even today, the city of Calvin is still largely under the thumb of the Ramadan family. But there was a dramatic turn of events on September 10, 2024. While Tariq Ramadan had been acquitted in May 2023 at first instance, he was sentenced on appeal to three years in prison, including one year in prison, for rape and sexual coercion.

The City of Calvin sometimes has jolts. In 1990, right-wing figures called for a vote for the honest Bernard Bertossa, a magistrate classified as left-wing, so that he would become attorney general of Geneva, in order to save “the honor of Geneva”. They had had enough of judges who ridiculed the city by stifling all the money laundering scandals. This time, it was necessary to show that Geneva was no longer bowing down to Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Tariq Ramadan’s appeal held a year after the May 2023. But it is important to remember how the first phase went. He was on trial in Geneva for rape and sexual coercion. The events are said to have taken place in a hotel in the city in October 2008. The preacher is acquitted with the benefit of the doubt. The forty or so Swiss and French journalists who attended the trial still have a bitter taste in their mouths. “Le droit pour le prévenu, la rudesse pour la plaignante”, headlines Le Monde. “Tariq Ramadan was able to unfold his brilliant argument without being interrupted or contradicted by the court, but the plaintiff was subjected to a steady and often suspicious barrage of questions from the three judges,” writes Pascale Robert-Diard. Le Nouvel Observateur called it “a trial from another age”. The plaintiff’s lawyers are continually cut off and reframed by the court. According to the Swiss daily Le Temps, “the Criminal Court gave a deplorable image of the justice system by being particularly aggressive towards the plaintiff and her counsel, while leaving a rarely seen latitude for the defendant’s digressions and other vituperations” …

The icing on this poisoned cake was the presence of Dieudonné, the comedian with a string of convictions for anti-Semitic insults, who came to claim that he believed in Tariq Ramadan’s innocence. He was told by a stranger that the complainant, far from talking about rape, was referring to “a one-night stand” with Tariq Ramadan…

What’s all the fuss about? In an article entitled: “Geneva has taken Tariq Ramadan in the face”, says the Swiss website Watson: “Geneva is not at ease because a kind of omerta and complacency have covered up the fickle side of the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and his commitment to political Islam in the name of defending the oppressed. The Ramadan boomerang is now hitting him in the face”.

Protected by the Swiss services?

In the city of Calvin, the Ramadans have held sway for over sixty years. Richly endowed by the Islamic World League, of which he is a founder, Saïd Ramadan is both Imam of the Islamic Centre of Geneva and… Jordan’s ambassador to the UN. Two incompatible functions but tolerated by Geneva. In his newspaper, Al Muslimoon, Saïd Ramadan constantly denounces Israel, described as “the embodiment of the thought of hell”, and attacks Europe: “Hatred of Islam has been a constant in Western history for 1,000 years”, he writes. Saïd Ramadan does not even hide the fact that he intends to encourage the emergence of “a world that belongs entirely to Islam.” He also holds a Pakistani passport and is constantly travelling the world. Switzerland, which classifies the Muslim Brotherhood as an enemy of communism, turns a blind eye to the militancy of Hassan al-Banna’s son-in-law.

When the Saudis cut him off because of his dissolute lifestyle and Jordan let him go, Saïd Ramadan was picked up by the Swiss services just as he was about to be deported with his family, as he no longer had a valid residence permit. In the Federal Archives in Bern, a memo from the authorities dated 29 June 1967 explains that “Saïd Ramadan is, among other things, an information agent for the British and the Americans. In addition, it is understood that he provided services – in terms of information – to the Bupo [Suiss Federal Police]”. The Islamist’s privileged links with certain Western secret services “could explain why the alerts of terrorism received by the Swiss authorities in the late 60s never really disturbed the functioning of his Centre”, writes Sylvain Besson, author of “La conquête de l’Occident. Le projet secret des islamistes” (Le Seuil, 2005). Tariq and Hani Ramadan’s father will never be prosecuted.

Hassan al-Banna, a “Muslim Gandhi”!      

Shortly after Saïd Ramadan’s death, on 13 November 1995, an Egyptian diplomat investigating the Muslim Brotherhood’s war chest was shot six times in Geneva. The Islamic Centre was searched on 21 November. The story is told by the journalist Richard Labevière in “Les dollars de la terreur” (Grasset, 1999). Almost thirty years later, the crime has still not been solved. While Hani Ramadan took over from his father at the head of the IGC, his brother Tariq, who teaches at a secondary school in Geneva, decided to take a doctorate to avoid being labelled a “preacher”. What is it about? His grandfather Hassan al-Banna, whom he describes as a reformist and a Muslim Gandhi. Neither his thesis supervisor nor the jury were convinced and preferred to resign, especially as Tariq Ramadan threatened to take legal action if he did not obtain his doctorate.

Sociologist Jean Ziegler, a Socialist Member of Parliament, and his partner Erica, a Communist Member of Parliament in Geneva, ran an intense campaign in support of Tariq Ramadan, who put up their posters during election periods. Geneva, fearing accusations of racism and Islamophobia, is worried about losing its rich clientele from the Gulf. Exceptionally, the faculty was asked to find another thesis supervisor (a German) and another complaisant jury so that Tariq Ramadan could enjoy his thesis. Meanwhile, not a programme on Islam or Muslim countries goes by without Hassan al-Banna’s grandson being invited to appear on French-speaking Swiss television. When the preacher, who had been indicted in France for rape, found himself imprisoned in 2018, several prominent figures signed a petition asking the President of the Confederation to intercede with Emmanuel Macron to release the native of Geneva, born in 1962.

Discreetly, the family continues to impose its law. The local press regularly gives a voice to Hani Ramadan, even though he is in favour of stoning women to death for adultery. On his website, the director of the IGC says that Israeli hostages are treated wonderfully by Hamas… The Islamic Centre is currently investing 6.2 million Swiss francs (6.3 million euros) in its expansion. As for the justice system, faced with a deplorable image after the criminal trial in May 2023, it has just put things right on appeal. If the form has changed diametrically, what about the substance?

The verdict was not delivered until September 10, 2024. Tariq Ramadan was sentenced to three years in prison for rape and sexual coercion, including one year in prison. The Criminal Appeal and Review Chamber emphasized that “several testimonies, certificates, medical notes and opinions of private experts are consistent with the facts reported by the complainant6.” Tariq Ramadan has thirty days to bring the case before the Federal Court – the Swiss equivalent of the Court of Cassation – which judges on the form, not the substance. In France, Tariq Ramadan will be tried for three other rapes. But the trial dates are not yet known.

(1) « Ramadan acquitté à l’issue de son procès en Suisse », 26 mai 2023.

(2) Fati Mansour, « A Genève, Tariq Ramadan et son accusatrice vont s’affronter lors d’un second round judiciaire ultra-scruté », 23 mai 2024.

(3) Antoine Menuisier, 22 mai 2023.

(4) Sylvain Besson, « Quand la Suisse protégeait l’islam radical au nom de la raison d’État », Le Temps, 26 octobre 2004.

(5) Grasset, 1999.

(6) « La justice genevoise condamne Tariq Ramadan pour viol », La Tribune de Genève, 10 septembre 2024.