Transnational Repression at the Center of Court Case Against Alleged Eritrean Trafficker ‘Walid’
Substantive hearings begin in Zwolle, The Netherlands, in November in the case against Eritrean national Tewelde Goitom, also known as ‘Walid’. The prosecution alleges that Walid led an international criminal network that detained, tortured, raped and extorted mainly Eritrean refugees in Libya, holding many in detention sites such as Bani Walid until families paid ransoms. The 191 witnesses that testified for the case all had ties to The Netherlands, where many ransom payments were made, but the same happened in other countries. The scale of the abuses, and their reach into diaspora communities, place this trial at the intersection of organized crime and transnational repression. Survivors are afraid to speak out, as the long arm of the Eritrean regime closely controls what Eritreans in the diaspora are allowed to say and do. This control is exerted in part through interpreters.
