Hani Ramadan

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Hani Ramadan is a Swiss Imam originally from Egypt. He is a grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, a son of Said Ramadan and the brother of scholar Tariq Ramadan.

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Life and career

Ramadan is married and fathers three children. He is the director of the Islamic Center of Geneva and the author of several books and newspaper articles on Islam and its doctrine. In 1983 he obtained Swiss citizenship by naturalization [1] and earned a doctorate in Philosophy form the University of Geneva. [2]

He taught French in high school until he was fired in 2002 by the Swiss government for "anti-democratic" statements he made in French newspaper Le Monde. [3] He defended stoning for adultery and believes AIDS is a "divine curse". [4] [5] He went to court and won his case in 2002 but the Swiss government refused to reinstate him. [6]

He again attracted the attention of the press and Swiss authorities by virtue of his radical statements. At the 2014 meeting of the Union of Islamic Organizations in France, he stated: "All the evil in the world originates from the Jews and the Zionist barbarism". [7] In June 2016 he was invited to speak about Islamophobia at a Swiss high school. He stated that a woman "is like a pearl in a shell. If it is shown it fosters jealousy. Here a woman without a veil is like a two euro coin. Visible to all she goes from hand to hand". [8]

He was expelled from France on April 8, 2017, for his past remarks and behaviour that posed a serious threat to public order, as per the statement issued by the French Interior Ministry. [9]

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References

  1. "Enquête sur Hani Ramadan et son activité pour l'Etat de Genève" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2012-11-09. Retrieved 2012-05-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. "Hani Ramadan piégé par la loi scolaire genevoise - SWI" (in French). Swissinfo.ch. 2002-12-19. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  3. "Muslim teacher fired for violating Geneva laws - SWI". Swissinfo.ch. 2002-12-19. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  4. ELAINE SCIOLINO (2003-11-16). "A Muslim Scholar Raises Hackles in France - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  5. "Hani Ramadan Wins Monetary Award After Being Fired For Supporting Islamic Stoning". Globalmbwatch.com. 2008-01-18. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  6. "Controversial Muslim scholar wins in court". Swissinfo . Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  7. Bibollet, Christian (September 7, 2015). "Un complot juif contre le monde musulman: Hani Ramadan s'égare". Le Temps. Archived from the original on September 13, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  8. "Hani Ramadan : "La femme sans voile est comme une pièce de 2 euros, elle passe d'une main à l'autre"" (in French). Marianne.net. Archived from the original on 2017-02-07. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  9. "Swiss imam expelled from France". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-09.