GLPOST

Daughter of Hotel Rwanda dissident criticises Belgium’s response to arrest

Why is Belgium taking Paul Rusesabagina's matter lightly, is it because he is a black citizen?

Paul Rusesabagina ‘visited once’ by Belgian official since alleged kidnap in Dubai. The alleged rendition and detention of a Rwandan human rights activist has prompted only a tepid political response from his adopted home of Belgium, according to the activist’s daughter, who said it called into question the value of European citizenship for political prisoners.

Paul Rusesabagina, a Belgian citizen who inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, is alleged to have been forcibly taken from Dubai to Kigali, where he is facing terrorism-related charges. But his daughter Carine Kanimba said that since his mysterious disappearance, he has had one visit by a Belgian official – and that the visit took place in front of a state-appointed lawyer.

“It really calls into question what the Belgian citizenship is worth, and what the status of asylum protection is work as a political refugee,” Kanimba, 27, told the Guardian.

“I think they’re trying to be very careful and I am worried about how fair they will be with my father,” she added. “I definitely worry about the relationship between Belgium and Rwanda.”

Rusesabagina was credited with saving more than 1,200 people who sheltered at the luxurious Mille Collines hotel, where he worked as a general manager at the time of the 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 people were killed.

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