A Belgian national arrested and missing in Djibouti!

Hassan Abdillahi Robleh just turned 34 on January 14. He fled his country in 2013 in the face of pressure from the Djiboutian regime, which accused him of his activism in this small state in the Horn of Africa.

He arrived in Belgium where he quickly obtained political asylum before obtaining Belgian nationality.

The young man has always maintained close ties with Djibouti and took over as president of the Young Opposition Movement (MJO) party in Europe. Recently Mr. Robleh returned to his country to visit his parents.

On January 9, while he was with comrades in the center of the capital, he was arrested at around midday by men from the intelligence services (Documentation and S Servicesecurity – SDS). His friends are categorical, they recognized the service cards of these agents who did not hesitate, according to them, to attack Hassan at the time of his arrest.

Since that date, there has been no further news of the young man despite requests from the consular assistance services of Belgian Foreign Affairs and requests for information submitted by the Belgian embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

A Belgian-Djiboutian files a complaint against the President of Djibouti to the UN

“ La family is obviously very worried about not having any news, explains Me Deswaef, the family’s lawyer, who continues: What is also very worrying is that LThe Belgian authorities do not obtain a response to their repeated requests to the Djiboutian authorities”.

The arrest of opponents is commonplace in Djibouti. “ In 2023, two Belgo-DJiboutians, opponents of the regime, have were also arrested, but information about them was communicated quickly and they were deported within a week.explain Alexis Deswaef, who insists on the fact thathis lack of response from the Djiboutian authorities to questions from the Belgian authorities and the fact that this has now been going on for 10 days “put him in fear for his life”.

“The Djiboutian authorities perhaps dare to deny the arrests of Belgium, but will not dare to deny a questioning from the UN directly. We therefore alerted the UN authorities present on site,” continues the Belgian lawyer who seized officially the R Coordinatorresident of the United Nations in Djibouti. A person that the Belgian lawyer had met in Djibouti in March 2023 as part of a mission from the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) of which he is vice-president. A stay which was limited to 48 hours. The lawyer was in fact expelled by the Djiboutian authorities who had followed him since his arrival at the airport.

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