Member Article

Escaped convict turned away by prison

Time for an example of bureaucratic fastidiousness from Europe. An escaped convict who tried to give himself up was turned away from prison because he had no identity card. Hakim Ghazouani, 24, had escaped from prison in Ghent, Belgium, after a visit to the doctor last month. Police issued national warnings about Ghazouani who was in jail for robbery and drug dealing.

His solicitor, Nathalie Buisseret, persuaded him to turn himself in and accompanied him to a prison at Verviers. But she said: “There we found he was denied access because he couldn’t show his identity card. The warden told the man to come back later with his papers, which he did.”

The diplomatic director of Verviers Prison said: “We never had seen the man before and we couldn’t identify him. It would have been a scandal if we locked up the wrong person.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .