Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

A lawsuit against the Belgian state before the court in Brussels on the background of the case of the killing of the Iraqi child Mawadda. The lawsuit included reference to dozens of "serious defects" in Mawadda's case. The parties to the case will be heard on Thursday and Friday at 9 am in the Civil Court in Brussels. According to what the Belgian media reported on Tuesday. "This process confronts the Belgian state with its responsibilities and points to the tragic and unacceptable consequences of its policy against migrants," said MCI Belgium, the children's rights association that brought the lawsuit. Among other things, twelve serious defects were pointed out in the Belgian state, which led to the death of two-year-old Mawadda.

On the night of 16 to 17 May 2018, Mawada's parents, along with their two children and several other migrants, attempted to cross into the UK. Two-year-old Mawada was killed on the highway in Lijeka after a policeman fired a pistol at the truck in which the Kurdish family and others were.

Release of unaccompanied children

On that day, there were also five other migrant children in the truck who were treated in a degrading and illegal way. The organization stressed that they were arrested and detained for several hours before being released without any escort. “Moreover, there are still many gray areas in ‘Operation Medusa’ (a police procedure that had been underway for months at the time and was meant to counter the smuggling of immigrants into Great Britain.”

The Children's Defense also notes that Mawada's brother, who was four years old at the time of the facts, and the parents were treated in an "inhuman and degrading manner" while Mawada lay dying. "They were caught by the police, they were not allowed to accompany their sister and daughter in the ambulance and they were detained for several hours."

The association also denounces the "lack of police training, communication problems between patrols, and the inaccuracy of statements by the police, forensic doctors, and the public prosecution." Two trials have already taken place in Mawaddah's case. One led to the conviction of six smugglers, including the truck driver.

In 2020, the Liège Criminal Court handed out suspended prison sentences of between three and five years. Two of the six convicts subsequently appealed, with the sentence upheld. The second trial resulted in the conviction of the policeman who fired the fatal shot.

In 2021, he received a suspended sentence of ten months in prison before the Bergen Court of Appeal, after being given a one-year suspended sentence in the first instance.

A week after the incident, hundreds of demonstrators took to the Belgian capital, Brussels, to protest against the killing of Mawadeh, who was the victim of a police chase for a car carrying thirty Kurdish people, including four children.

After the police had doubts about the car’s number plate, and when trying to approach, the driver fled, and one of the police officers shot the child “Mawada”, killing her.

Prosecutors said the shooting took place in Mons on May 17 after police chased a car carrying 30 illegal immigrants with fake Belgian license plates.

The Minister of the Interior at the time, Jean Jambon, said that the police were innocent of the blood of the child Mawada, and that the police had done their duty to the fullest.

The demonstrators criticized the Belgian government and hung the dead girl's clothes to show support for Mawada's parents. The Public Prosecutor had ordered an autopsy of the child's body to find out the cause of death, and then announced that the child had indeed received a bullet. It was not accurate due to the truck swerving and sudden lane change by the driver