Tariq Ramadan after 10 months free on bail

Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar, has been released on bail after being held in detention for nearly 10 months over charges of sexual assault, his lawyer said. A Paris Court of Appeal granted the 56-year-old Swiss academic bail on Thursday even as the investigation into the case continues.

"Where would I flee to," he asked during his hearing, his first public appearance since the arrest in February.

His bail was set at 300,000 euros ($340,000) and it requires him to hand over his passport and report to police once a week.
Ramadan, who is accused of rape on two separate counts, has long denied having sexual relations with the plaintiffs. One accuser is a disabled woman identified in media reports as Christelle, and the other is a feminist activist, Henda Ayari.  Last month Ramadan however admitted that encounters did take place but that the acts in question were consensual.
In the court on Thursday, Ramadan said he did not intend to become a fugitive from the law, adding his multiple sclerosis meant he couldn't walk properly. His lawyer Emmanuel Marsigny told Reuters news agency, "Ramadan's release... demonstrated that the rape accusations against him were lies."
Ramadan also faces criminal complaints of rape by women in the United States and Switzerland. Ramadan was a professor at Oxford University until he was forced to take leave when the rape allegations surfaced at the height of the #MeToo movement late last year.