Oxford professor for Islamic studies Tariq Ramadan has been taken to hospital for treatment for multiple sclerosis, the support committee for the Swiss scholar announced on Saturday.

Ramadan was being held in detention near Paris amid an investigation into rape allegations against him, when he was taken to hospital on Wednesday evening.

The Islamic scholar suffers from multiple sclerosis and has appealed the French authorities’ decision to keep him in custody. The Paris Court of Appeals ordered an independent medical report on his state of health and postponed their decision to February 22, 2018.

During a hearing in court last Thursday, Ramadan’s lawyer argued, based on a first summary of the medical report, that his client’s state of health was not “compatible with detention”. Ramadan had arrived at the hearing in an ambulance.

According to the Swiss News Agency, ATS, a source close to the case confirmed the hospitalisation on Saturday. One of Ramadan’s personal contacts said that “his state of health is worsening, particularly now that the courts have refused again to allow him to visit his wife and children”.