Paris: Prominent Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Oxford, has been taken into custody by French police following accusations of rape, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

The source said a preliminary investigation was opened after two complaints were filed against Ramadan, a well-known figure in the Middle East. He is the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt, Hassan al-Banna.

The group has become one of the most influential transnational Sunni Muslim movements in the world.

Ramadan has taught contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University and is the author of a dozen books in English on modern Islam and the Western world.

A familiar figure at conferences and in the news media, he is also a major presence on social media, with 2 million Facebook friends and more than 200,000 followers on Twitter.

Ramadan took a leave of absence from Oxford last November after two women filed complaints in France alleging rape. He has denied the allegations and filed a complaint for slander against author Henda Ayari, one of his accusers.

Reuters