The disturbing silence of a man in a detention centre

6 November 2024

For about 22 days, we lost contact with M., a detainee that had just started a hunger strike in protest to his detention. His phone seems to have been confiscated and neither his family nor his lawyer have had any contact with him since. M. has children in Belgium and his wife is currently pregnant. 

At the time of his arrest, M. was initially taken to the 127bis detention centre. He was subjected to two deportation attempts that he was able to resist. Then, on 15 October 2024, he was transferred to the Vottem detention centre, where he began a hunger strike. Since then, he has been unreachable through the phone and has been denied visits. 

On Saturday, the 2nd of November, he was transerred a second time to the closed centre in Merksplas, where he was put in isolation. According to the other detained people in Vottem, his health was very poor before being transferred. His silence is worrying, and those close to him tell us: “What if he is dead? Aren’t they going to tell us anything?”

How is it possible that neither his family nor his lawyer had any news for so long?

How is it possible that a person is denied contact with their lawyer and with their family?

Yesterday, Tuesday 5 November, his lawyer finally reveived the news that his client had been released and transferred to the hospital “at the request of the centre’s doctor for  further medical examinations”. 

It seems to us that M. is seriously ill, and that the centre has done everything it can to hide his conditioin, thus preventing him from communicating with his family and lawyer. 

We hope that M. will recover and that he will not suffer any psychological or physical reprecussions due to his prolonged isolation and the lack of adequate care.

The isolation of a man in distress is part of a series of strategies that are put in place by the Immigration Office  to reduce any possibility of resistance on the part of detainees. It is part of a repressive system that seeks to expel anyone who does not have the ‘right papers’, at any cost. 

We stand in solidarity with M. and all other detained people