Belgium found to have illegally detained two foreign students

The Belgian state has been convicted by the Brussels civil court for having illegally detained two students, one Moroccan and the other Congolese, upon their arrival in the country.

Both students were awarded compensation for their unlawful detention.

Congolese student Junior Masudi Wasso was arrested by airport police in Zaventem in September 2021.

Despite being the holder of a long-stay visa with a valid registration at UCLouvain, the student spent 16 days in the Caricole centre in Steenokkerzeel before being released.

Moroccan student Ouiam Ziti, who was enrolled in her fifth year of dental medicine at the University of Iasi in Romania, was also detained in December 2021 by airport police in Gosselies.

Ziti was in possession of a French visa, with which she had already travelled multiple times to and from Belgium to visit family.

Both detentions were found to have no legal basis by the court.