Eritrean human smuggler in Libya extradited to Netherlands
Eritrean minors in a detention center for illegal migrants in Tripoli, Libya, in July 2016. AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The leader of one of the main human trafficking networks between the Horn of Africa and Europe was extradited from Ethiopia to the Netherlands on Wednesday October 5.
Tewelde Goitom had been arrested and tried in Addis Ababa, with one of his accomplices.
He will appear this Thursday in a Dutch court.
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The prosecutor of the Netherlands welcomed this Wednesday the arrival on his soil, handcuffed, of the one nicknamed "Walid".
This simple name sowed terror between 2004 and 2008 in Libya.
The Eritrean Tewelde Goitom, 38, was indeed the most feared, violent and hated trafficker between East Africa and the Mediterranean.
"
Parade with weapons of war
"
In his torture center in Bani Walid, he liked to "
parade with weapons of war
" and "
bragged of raping all the women who passed through his hands
", said the Eritrean journalist Meron Estefanos, at the time of his trial in Addis Ababa, last year.
He was then sentenced to 18 years in prison.
But the verdict had been delivered under tight security.
Because another notorious trafficker, Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam,
had escaped a few months earlier
, in broad daylight, thanks to accomplices in the judiciary.
"
Extortion
"
The Dutch authorities, however, announced their " intention to bring the two men and the other members
" of their gang
to justice .
Because in addition to the crimes for which they were convicted in Ethiopia, they are also accused of “
extortion
” by the families of the victims living in the Netherlands, which is why they have been claimed by justice in this country.
►
To read also:
The UN now considers migrant smuggling an international crime
(
June 10, 2018
)
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