French court keeps Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan in prison

PARIS – A court has rejected a release request by a prominent Islamic scholar incarcerated this month on preliminary rape charges.

A judicial official said that Tariq Ramadan, who was briefly hospitalized recently, refused to leave his prison cell to be present for Thursday's ruling on his request to be released for medical reasons.

The official said that the appeals court, after a medical evaluation, considered that his state of health did not exclude his incarceration. The official, not authorized to speak publicly, asked not to be identified.

The 55-year-old Swiss scholar is facing preliminary rape charges in two cases. The first allegedly took place in 2009 and the other allegedly in 2012.

Ramadan denies any wrongdoing and has filed a lawsuit claiming the allegations are false.