Acquitted Soccer Player Free to Reunite with Family in Belgium After Over a Decade in Solitary Confinement
Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian national and former professional soccer player who was acquitted of terrorism-related charges over two years ago, has finally been flown home to Belgium and released to be reunited with his wife and children. This comes after years of lawsuits challenging his prolonged unlawful detention and inhumane treatment by the United States.
鈥淚 am so blessed to finally have my freedom after 24 years,鈥 said Mr. Trabelsi. 鈥淢y family has been waiting so long and we can now be together and start a new chapter in our lives鈥
In 2013, the United States forcibly extradited Mr. Trabelsi from Belgium to face criminal charges in the United States, where he spent almost 10 years in solitary confinement while in pretrial detention. After being cleared of all charges by a federal jury in July 2023, the U.S. immediately transferred him to immigration detention and wrongly treated him as an applicant for admission awaiting deportation. In fact, it was the United States that brought Mr. Trabelsi to this country against his will for prosecution over a decade ago. He spent more than two additional years in immigration detention despite being acquitted.
鈥淢r. Trabelsi鈥檚 legal ordeal has finally come to an end,鈥 said Nicole Hallett, clinical professor of law and director of the Immigrants鈥 Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. 鈥淗e will be able to do what he should have been able to do years ago 鈥 rebuild his life with his family in Belgium.鈥
Mr. Trabelsi was kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day, unable to communicate with his family, read books, or practice his religion. These conditions were even more restrictive than those he experienced during his 10-year-long pretrial detention, and his mental and physical health were deteriorating by the day. The Belgian government issued multiple formal diplomatic requests asking the U.S. to facilitate his return to Belgium, but the U.S, for years, refused. Instead, the government tried to deport him to Tunisia, where he was born, but where he is likely to face torture.
鈥淭he government demanded Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 extradition from Belgium for criminal prosecution, and when it failed to convict him, it forced him to suffer more than two years of extremely harsh detention for essentially no purpose at all,鈥 said Brett Max Kaufman, senior counsel with the 红杏视频鈥檚 Center for Democracy. 鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled that he is finally free again after all this time.鈥
Mr. Trabelsi is represented by the 红杏视频, the University of Chicago Law School鈥檚 Immigrants鈥 Rights Clinic, the 红杏视频 of Virginia, and Professor Jonathan Hafetz of Seton Hall Law School.
"Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 inhumane treatment in immigration detention is just the latest in a long string of Immigration and Customs Enforcement鈥檚 violation of both the law and its own policies,鈥 said Sophia Gregg, senior immigrants鈥 rights attorney at 红杏视频 of Virginia. "Mr. Trabelsi's reunion with his family comes after being held in detention in the U.S. for years even after being cleared of all charges. That should never have happened."