Famous Malian singer Rokia Traoré has been arrested at Rome’s main international airport, Fiumicino, over a conviction in Belgium related to a child custody dispute.
Italian media reported that Traoré was detained upon arrival for a concert. A spokesperson for the airport confirmed her arrest by border police to AFP on Sunday.
In 2020, Traoré was initially detained in France on a Belgian arrest warrant for failing to comply with a court order to hand over her child to the Belgian father. After being conditionally released, she left for Mali on a private flight, defying a French travel ban until her extradition to Belgium.
Last October, a Belgian court sentenced Traoré in absentia to two years in prison for parental abduction, as she had not handed over her child to the custodial parent. Her daughter, now nine, has lived in Mali since the age of four, and her father reportedly has had no contact with her since then.
When arrested in 2020, Traoré was traveling from Mali to Brussels to appeal the custody ruling, according to her lawyers. Mali’s government supported her, stating she held a diplomatic passport.
Traoré, one of Africa’s best-known vocalists, has won numerous awards, including the BBC Award for World Music in 2004 and the 2009 World Music Album of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent of the Grammys. She is also recognized for her advocacy work for refugees, serving as a goodwill ambassador for the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees in West and Central Africa since 2015.
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