Malian artist Rokia Traore is set to be extradited from Italy to Belgium due to an outstanding two-year prison sentence related to a child custody case, as confirmed by her attorney on Thursday. The singer and guitarist was convicted in absentia by a Brussels court last year for charges of parental abduction. 

Traore was apprehended in Italy in June and contested the extradition, but a court in Rome ruled on Thursday that she must be transferred to Belgium within ten days, according to her lawyer, Maddalena Claudia Del Re. 

In March 2020, Traore was arrested in Paris under a European arrest warrant following a Belgian court's decision requiring her to return her nine-year-old daughter to her Belgian father. She later violated a travel ban and returned to Mali several months later, evading extradition to Belgium. 

The father’s attorney stated that he has not been in contact with his daughter, who resides in Mali, since she was four years old. The lawyer mentioned that the father is willing to create a new custody agreement with Traore, which would be recognized by both Malian and Belgian courts, in an effort to resolve the situation and ensure their child has a future with both parents. 

In addition to her celebrated music career, Traore is recognized for her advocacy for refugees and was appointed a UN ambassador for refugees in 2015.