One of Africa’s most famous musicians – Malian singer Rokia Traore – has reportedly been jailed in Belgium as part of an ongoing child custody dispute.
According to news agency AFP, the 50-year-old is being held in custody after being extradited from Italy, with the remainder of his two-year prison sentence.
The long-running saga dates back to 2020 when Travere was initially detained on a Belgian arrest warrant in France after failing to comply with a court order to hand over his daughter to the girl’s Belgian father.
Months later she was. Conditionally released.Traoré flew to Mali on a private flight, defying a ban on leaving France pending his extradition to Belgium.
Last October, Trevor was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison by a Belgian court for parental kidnapping for “failure to hand over the child to the person entitled to custody”.
In June, Traoré was arrested. Fiumicino Airport In Rome when she flew to a concert, after being found guilty of child custody, for which there was a European arrest warrant. Two months later, a court in the Italian capital approved his extradition.
An appeal by the singer was rejected last week, paving the way for extradition. Reuters reported that Traore has been held in jail since his arrest.
Her daughter, now nine, has lived in Mali since she was four.
The baby’s father’s lawyer, Trevor’s ex-partner John Gossons, reportedly said he has had no contact with his daughter since.
Her lawyers said that when she was initially arrested in 2020, she was traveling from Mali to Brussels with the intention of appealing the detention decision.
The Malian government had earlier come out in support of the singer, saying she had a diplomatic passport.
Trevor’s lawyer, Vincent Lorcain, told AFP that the singer plans to appeal the two-year prison sentence, prompting a new trial.
He also said that both Traoré and Goossens were hoping to “find an agreement in the best interest of the child”, thus avoiding a new prison sentence.
The public prosecutor’s office in Belgium has confirmed Traore will remain in custody pending a new trial, AFP reported.
Traoré is one of Africa’s most famous singers. It has won several awards, including the 2004 BBC Award for World Music and the 2009 World Music Album of the Year Victories 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 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in West and Central Africa in 2015.