Switzerland’s supreme court said Thursday that it had rejected an appeal by Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan against his rape conviction by a lower court.

“The Federal Court dismissed Tariq Ramadan’s appeal against the conviction for rape and sexual coercion handed down by the Geneva Court of Justice,” the high court said in a statement.

A Geneva appeals court last year found the former Oxford University professor guilty of the rape of a woman in a Geneva hotel 17 years ago, sentencing him to three years in prison, two of which were suspended.

The ruling marked the first guilty verdict against Ramadan, who faces a string of rape allegations in Switzerland and France.

A charismatic yet controversial figure in European Islam, he has always maintained his innocence.

The supreme court said t

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