Junior came to Belgium to study, he was arrested when he arrived: “I don’t understand what is happening to me”
Locked in the Caricole transit center since September 18, the date of his arrival in Belgium, Junior Masudi Wasso begins to lose hope. “I feel worse and worse. I don’t understand why they keep keeping me locked up here. It’s starting to get very complicated. I haven’t done anything wrong and I’m being put in jail, it’s an injustice. total “, he laments. He says he is traumatized by his arrival on Belgian territory.
“I arrived at the airport at six in the morning. The police asked me for my passport, a medical card, my proof of admission to university and my plane ticket. I provided them with all the documents and then they brought me back to an interrogation room. They asked me if I knew Dmitri Mendeléev. I told them he was a chemist. They asked me more chemistry questions but I didn’t answer. They then asked me where I planned to stay. I told them I had family in Denderleeuw. They then asked me how I would travel between Denderleeuw and the university. I said I would take the metro and they laughed. They said I was not in control of the ride. They took me to another room where they asked me other questions and then they took me to the closed center “, he explains. In all, Junior will have spent more than ten hours at the airport.
“It was violent. Sometimes the police spoke in Dutch among themselves. I did not understand what they were talking about. They gave me documents in Dutch, while we were speaking in French. Then they took me to the center of force. They also tried to force me back on the plane. I took refuge in the shower so that they could not take me but they opened the door and forced me out “, he explains.
Junior benefits from the support of the Federation of Francophone Students, the General Assembly of Students of Louvain and the university authorities. However, Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Sammy Mahdi is uncompromising. In a letter sent to the Minister of Higher Education Valérie Glatigny, he indicates that he is aware of Junior’s situation and understands the minister’s concern. “We understand the concern that exists with you as with other people who have contacts regarding this case. However, all the elements of the file justify the decision taken by the authorities to refuse access to the territory, although we know that it is a heavy measure “, he says indeed. Several political figures were part of their disagreement. This is the case of Rodrigue Demeuse. “This situation is unacceptable. I am deeply shocked that a student can find himself in a closed center on the basis of a completely subjective interrogation. Ecolo supports the idea of international mobility for students which is as strong as possible, this situation is therefore incomprehensible. We hope that the minister will plead for the immediate release of Junior. “