Italy’s highest court has ordered the extradition of celebrated Malian singer Rokia Traore to Belgium, rejecting her final appeal in an international child custody case that has kept the renowned vocalist in an Italian prison since June.
Traore, 50, a United Nations refugee agency goodwill ambassador and one of Africa’s most prominent musical artists, will be transferred to Belgian authorities in the coming days, her lawyer Maddalena Del Re confirmed Wednesday.
“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” Del Re said in a statement to Reuters. The Court of Cassation’s decision followed a European Court of Justice ruling supporting the extradition.
The singer was arrested June 20 at Rome’s Fiumicino airport under a European arrest warrant while traveling to perform a concert near the Colosseum. She has since been detained in Civitavecchia prison outside Rome. The arrest stems from a Belgian court’s October 2023 decision sentencing her to two years in prison over a custody dispute involving her daughter.
Del Re argues the Belgian procedure violates Italian constitutional principles and international conventions, as Traore was convicted in absentia. The case has its roots in a 2020 arrest in France, where Traore was initially detained on a Belgian warrant after failing to transfer custody of her daughter to the child’s Belgian father, her former partner.
Following a conditional release from French custody, Traore defied travel restrictions by taking a private flight to Mali, where her daughter currently resides.
