Mali singer Traore extradited to Belgium in child custody case

One of Africa’s best known musicians – the Malian singer Rokia Traoré – has reportedly been imprisoned in Belgium as part of an ongoing child custody dispute. The 50-year-old is being held after being extradited from Italy, over an outstanding two-year prison sentence.

The 50-year-old singer and guitarist was sentenced in absentia by a Brussels court last year on charges of parental abduction, in a long-running fight with the Belgian father of her daughter — now aged nine. She was arrested in Italy in June and a Rome court approved her extradition two months later.

The long-running saga dates back to 2020 when Traoré was initially detained in France on a Belgian arrest warrant after failing to heed a court order to hand over her daughter to the girl’s Belgian father.Months after she was conditionally released, Traoré flew out to Mali on a private flight, defying a ban from leaving France until her extradition to Belgium.

Traore was transferred upon landing in Brussels to Haren prison near the capital, the state prosecutors’ office said in a statement.

Her lawyer, Vincent Lurquin, told AFP she intended to appeal the prison sentence, which would trigger a new trial.

He also said both Traore and the child’s Belgian father Jan Goossens were hoping to “find an agreement in the interests of the child” — and avert a new prison sentence.

The state prosecutor’s office confirmed that Traore would “remain in detention for the duration of the new trial.”

Goossens’ legal team says he has not had any contact with his daughter, who lives in Mali, since she turned four.

AFP reported that the state prosecutor’s office in Belgium confirmed that Traoré would remain in detention throughout the new trial.

Traoré is one of Africa’s best known vocalists. She has won several awards, including the BBC Award for World Music in 2004 and the 2009 World Music Album of the year in the Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent of the Grammys.

She is also known for her advocacy work for refugees, becoming a goodwill ambassador for the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees in 2015 in West and Central Africa.