Malian singer Rokia Traoré extradited to Belgium over child custody dispute

Malian singer Rokia Traoré was extradited from Italy to Belgium and transferred to the Haren prison in Brussels, reported news agency AFP. The 50-year-old woman has for years been embroiled in a child custody dispute with her former partner, Belgian playwright Jan Goossens, the father of her daughter.

The Malian singer was arrested in Paris in March 2020 and placed under a European arrest warrant because a Belgian judge ordered her to return her daughter, who is now nine years old, to the child's Belgian father, Jan Goossens. The singer and guitarist was last year sentenced in absentia to two years in prison on charges of parental abduction. Despite being banned from leaving France, she still flew back to Mali.

Traoré was arrested in June at Rome's Fiumicino airport, where she had landed to play a concert. Lawyer Sven Mary, who represents the child's father, indicated at the time that his client has had no contact with his daughter, who lives in Mali, for more than five years. The Belgian justice authorities asked for her extradition.

According to her Belgian lawyer Vincent Lurquin, Traoré had to let the justice system know immediately upon her arrival in Belgium that she opposes her 2023 conviction in absentia so that she can be tried again in her presence. Following this hypothesis, “she will remain in detention for the period of her second trial,” said a spokesman for the Brussels public prosecutor's office.

New hearings could take place as early as December. To AFP, lawyer Lurquin said they want to “find a new agreement in the interest of the child” with the opposing party, to avoid a new conviction of Traoré.

Traoré is one of Mali’s most famous musicians. She has performed across the world and appeared on the jury for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, as well as being a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR.

^{Malian singer Rokia Traoré in 2013 © BELGA PHOTO ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP}