A criminal court in Paris sentenced Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, to 18 years in prison in absentia after convicting him of raping three women.

Ramadan was found guilty on all charges in a case widely seen as one of the most prominent linked to the #MeToo movement in France.

The 63-year-old, who currently resides in Switzerland, did not attend the trial. The court concluded that the assaults took place in Lyon and Paris between 2009 and 2016.

He had previously spent about 10 months in pretrial detention. While he repeatedly denied the allegations, he later acknowledged contact with the complainants.

The court issued an arrest warrant and ordered his eventual deportation from France after serving his sentence, along with compensation payments to the victims.

Although the ruling aligns with prosecutors’ demands, it will only be enforced if Ramadan is detained in France, as Switzerland does not extradite its nationals, leaving him beyond French authorities’ reach for now.