Moroccan student wrongfully denied entry to Belgium, remained detained for 11 days

A young Moroccan dentistry student in Romania has spent 11 days in an immigration Transit Centre in Brussels, after refusing to sign the documents which she was not allowed to read.

Ouiam Ziti is a young Moroccan student studying in her 4th year of dental school in Iasi, Romania, and was in Belgium for a visit. After landing in Charleroi, she was detained and denied basic arrest fundamental rights.

Ouiam’s story made the rounds on social media platforms, after sharing she was detained for 11 days, 6 of which were in complete isolation, without her phone or her vital cardiac medication.

Despite her being used to transiting Belgium back in her early student years, Ouiam explains that while checking in at the Charleroi airport, a policeman asked her whom she was visiting in Brussels, to which she answered. He then proceeded to ask more questions about why she chose this airport, and what her itinerary would be once she lands.

After checking if she had enough money to sustain herself while in Belgium, the policeman asked Ouiam if she had a guardian, to which she forwarded her Belgian uncle, who then spoke to the policeman on the phone. The security official then “assured” the man on the phone that “his niece will not enter Belgium.”

The police then asked her if she had a return ticket, which she said she did because she had to return to Romania after the holidays for her exams. She had taken a return ticket scheduled for January 3, departing from France, which prompted police to question her about how long her stay would last.

Ouiam took the time to explain, for the second time, that after visiting her uncle, she had planned to ride the train to France to see her brother, before returning to Romania on the aforementioned date.

Until then, the police had no reason to arrest the young student, but they transferred her to a closed room with double doors, where she was not even allowed a call.

After a few hours, two policemen came to take Ouiam to the basement of the Charleroi airport to a holding cell, in which she stayed for a staggering 7 hours, without receiving an administrative arrest report.

Two policemen came afterward to explain to her the decision of the Belgian Office of Foreign Affairs, that she was expelled from the territory with the abrogation of her French-issued Schengen visa.

Around 10:30, after having spent hours in the holding cell, authorities confiscated all her belongings including her cell phone, for which she pleaded to say she had calls to make to her family, but to no avail.

The police officer then explained the decision of the Office, telling Ouiam me that there were documents she had to sign regarding the revocation of her visa, adding that she will be placed in a center for a few days until she could fly back to Romania.

Ouiam asked if there was any other solution, such as taking a flight to Romania, at her own expense, so that she could return the next day. The policemen told her that it was possible, but that she had to sign the documents first.

Like any person of age and with a certain level of knowledge of her rights, Ouiam asked to read the contents of the document, the policeman refused and asked her to sign again so that she could have a copy later.

Faced with the choice of either signing the document she was not allowed to read or be taken to the detention center, Ouiam remained steadfast and insisted on seeing the documents first, which the authorities persisted in refusing.

Ouiam was then taken to the closed immigration holding center, Le Caricole, located an hour and a half from the Charleroi airport.

The young Moroccan student was put in isolation for 6 days. Her phone was confiscated, as well as her tablet, her hygiene products, and her heart medication.

With her lawyer, Ouiam tried to file an urgent appeal to show that the decision taken was not based on valid reasons and that her statements, during her passage through customs, were distorted in the report.

The decision of Belgian authorities was later revealed to have been made on the basis of this erroneous information.

The spokeswoman of the Office of Foreigners (OE), Dominique Ernould, concluded that the Moroccan student Ouiam Ziti did not meet the conditions to enter Belgium, due to the fact that “she has a tourist visa issued by France, so the purpose of her stay must be in France,” but that she declared that she intended to stay 22 days in Belgium.

In addition, the report claimed that Ouiam was not able to justify the sum of 45 euros per day required to ensure she could sustain herself while in Belgium.

After the appeal procedure, Ouiam was summoned for a hearing before a judge, which she was unable to attend as the immigration center told her “they do not currently have a driver who could accompany her to court.”

To date, according to information provided by Hespress FR, the Moroccan Embassy in Belgium has not yet intervened in this case, as Ouiam awaits justice to be served.