BE: police officers convicted for killing Semira Adamu

13.Dec.03 - more than five years after the death or Semira Adamu on board of an Sabena (back in those times that was the Belgian national airline) plane bound for Nigeria, 4 federal police officers that participated in the deadly deportation have been convicted by a Belgian court. While the state attorney had demanded the court to drop the charges against the officers, the judge imposed suspended jail sentences of more than a year on three rank and file police officers and one superior who supervised the deadly deportation. all four of them where convicted for 'unintentional assault resulting in death'

The Nigerian refugee Semira Adamu was suffocated with a cushion during an attempt to deport her on board of an Sabena flight to Lagos. At that time Semira had been in close contact with the Belgian collective against deportations. She had been the subject of several attempts to deport her that all failed because of support actions of the collective and because of Semiras refusal to assist. By this she had become a symbol of the resistance against forced deportations in Belgium. As a result of pressure form the home office a 'final' attempt to deport her was undertaken by no less than 10 federal police officers.