Academic Tariq Ramadan, grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt, remained in custody in Paris on Thursday over rape allegations. Ramadan was taken into custody by French police following accusations of rape, a judicial source said on Wednesday. The source said a preliminary investigation was opened in October after two complaints were filed against Ramadan claiming he violently attacked them. Ramadan denies allegations that he raped two women last year as feminist activist Henda Ayari said she was assaulted by him in a Paris hotel room in 2012. The second woman, name undisclosed, reported Ramadan to police alleging that he had raped and violently assaulted her in a hotel room in Lyon in 2009. Ayari, 40, former salafist, detailed the alleged attack in her book, "I Chose to Be Free," published in France in November 2016, but gave her attacker a false name. However, last October and after the sexual scandals and #MeToo campaign, Ayari named the attacker as Ramadan and made a formal police complaint. On his Facebook page on Oct. 28, Ramadan described the allegations as a "campaign of lies" carried out by his "longtime enemie." "It is sad to see our opponents reduced to supporting deception…. The law must now speak, my lawyer is in charge of this file. We expect a long and bitter fight. I am serene and determined," he added. In November, Oxford University announced that Ramadan, 55, took a leave of absence from his post as professor of contemporary Islamic studies "by mutual agreement". Ramadan said in a statement in November: “Contrary to reports in the French-language press, I have taken leave of absence upon mutual agreement with Oxford University, which will permit me to devote my energies to my defence while respecting students’ need for a calm academic environment.”