Malian singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré is set to be deported to Belgium from Rome after losing an appeal at Italy’s High Court. The 50-year-old artist was apprehended on 20 June at Rome’s Fiumicino airport under a European arrest warrant.

In 2023, Traoré received a two-year prison sentence in Belgium stemming from a custody battle over her daughter that involves both European and African legal systems. Traoré has a daughter with Belgian playwright Jan Goossens, whom she separated from in 2018. Following their separation, a Malian court granted Traoré full custody, a decision contested by a Belgian court. Since then, Traoré and Goossens’ daughter has resided in Mali.

Traoré was initially arrested in Paris in 2020, with a warrant issued for her to surrender her daughter upon returning to Belgium for a custody hearing. After her release, Traoré disregarded instructions to stay in France pending extradition to Belgium and returned to her daughter in Mali. In June, Traoré came back to Europe to perform a concert near Rome’s Colosseum. Upon arrival at Fiumicino airport, she was arrested once more.

This week, Italy’s highest court dismissed her appeal, paving the way for her extradition to Belgium. “Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her side. Now, the fight for Rokia’s rights shifts to Brussels,” said Traoré’s lawyer, Maddalena Del Re, in an interview with Reuters. Sven Mary, Goossens’s lawyer, stated, “Rokia Traoré claimed de facto exclusive custody and has been denying her daughter contact with her father and his family for over five and a half years.” He added, “Rokia Traoré’s rights have always been respected by the Belgian justice system: she was duly summoned and always had the opportunity to defend herself. However, for years, she has chosen to ignore Belgian justice, not to be represented, and to disregard Belgian family judgments aimed at restoring balance between mother and father.”

Traoré is one of Mali’s most renowned musicians, having performed worldwide and served on the jury for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. She is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR.

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