Tariq Ramadan facing for the first time his first accuser, Henda Ayari

"I'm not a rapist," defended Tariq Ramadan before the judges who questioned him in early June. A month and a half later, the Islamologist, indicted for "rape" and "rape on vulnerable person", is again summoned by the judges for a confrontation this Thursday with Henda Ayari, the first to file a complaint against Tariq Ramadan. However, the one that was to oppose Wednesday to "Christelle", the second complainant, was canceled for medical reasons and will be postponed later. "She wanted to go to this confrontation but she had a serious concern, she is not able to be heard," confirmed Tuesday his lawyer Eric Morain.

This Thursday, it will be the first time that Tariq Ramadan will be confronted with Henda Ayari. Harassed on social networks after filing a complaint in October, this former Salafist became a feminist and secular activist did not go to confrontation last February, when police questioned Tariq Ramadan. "A rumor suggests that I would have refused the confrontation: it is false," she explained in an interview with Figaro in early June. "When the investigators called me in custody, they told me that I needed to be there in the afternoon. But I live in Rouen and I have children! Today, I am ready; I need it, even, "she added at that moment. Contacted this Tuesday, his lawyers did not wish to communicate on the record, which is "in a special phase."

"Everyone should stay on their positions"

A source close to the record

In October In 2017, Henda Ayari claimed that she had been raped by the preacher in 2012 and described a relationship that had turned into brutality. For the first time, at the beginning of June, the judges interrogated Tariq Ramadan at length on the charges brought by Henda Ayari. The relationship she describes, "it never existed," he defended, denying any sexual relationship and saying it was she who sent him messages more and more explicit, according to France inter. Thursday, "except surprise, everyone should stay on his side, she now his accusations, continuing to deny," predicts a source familiar with the case.

In this confrontation, the judges should in part be interested in the schedule of Tariq Ramadan and Henda Ayari. Last May, the latter had, after researching his agenda, changed his statements before the judges by changing the location and date of the attack. "I totally assume the fact of having forgotten the place and the precise date of a traumatic aggression, 5 years later!", She had defended herself on Twitter. Diary and checkbook stubs in support, she finally claimed that the rape took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Place de la Republique, Paris, May 26, 2012, and not at the Holiday Inn, located near the Gare de l'Est, between March 31 and April 8, 2012. A change of version that had, at the time, made the defense leap, which will surely be sure to insist on this flip-flop for to discredit Henda Ayari's accusations before the judges

Météo France records

Already in early June, Tariq Ramadan's lawyer was beginning to question the new version put forward by the first complainant: "She now indicates that it's May 26, 2012 and it gives a very precise thing. She says: "When I come to Paris, it's raining cats. So much so that the brushing I did that morning falls and I am forced to change myself. We have communicated to the courts the records of Météo France, there is not a drop of rain in Paris regardless of the district, May 26, 2012. A moment ago, that's enough, "he said. he annoyed at the microphone of France Info.

Contacted by Le Figaro the lawyer of Tariq Ramadan this time, contented with a brief comment to two days of this new convocation of his client: "I am satisfied that these confrontations finally take place, insofar as they condition the maintenance in detention of my client ", affirms Me Emmanuel Marsigny. After the confrontation on Thursday, he could, according to the investigations conducted, make a new application for release of his client, placed in pre-trial detention since February.