ROME, June 25 – Malian singer Rokia Traoré was arrested at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on Saturday, following a Belgian conviction related to a child custody dispute.
Traoré was detained by border police as she arrived for a concert, Italian media reported. This arrest comes after her initial detention in France in 2020 on a Belgian warrant for not complying with a court order to hand over her child to the father.
Despite being conditionally released in France, Traoré defied a travel ban and flew to Mali on a private flight. Last October, a Belgian court sentenced her in absentia to two years in prison for parental abduction, stating she had failed to hand over her child to the entitled custodian. Her daughter, now nine years old, has lived in Mali since the age of four.
The child’s father, Traoré’s former partner, reportedly has had no contact with his daughter since she moved to Mali. When Traoré was first arrested in 2020, she was en route from Mali to Brussels to appeal the custody ruling, according to her lawyers. Mali’s government supported her, claiming she held a diplomatic passport.
Rokia Traoré is one of Africa’s most renowned vocalists, with accolades including the BBC Award for World Music in 2004 and the 2009 World Music Album of the Year at France’s Victoires de la Musique. She is also a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in West and Central Africa, recognized for her advocacy work for refugees.
Leave a comment