WUNRN
BELGIUM - NEW COURT PROCEEDINGS TO
START IN EXORCISM CASE OF WOMAN'S DEATH
By
Willy Fautré, Chairman - Human Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF (16.04.2012) - www.hrwf.net - On August 6, 2004, Latifa Hachmi, then 23
years old, died during an exorcism that looked more torture than religious
ceremony. After she had given up hope of being able to have children, Latifa
and her husband decided to see an exorcist from a non-profit organization named
"La Plume." The exorcist told them that the cause of her problem was
possession by the devil and that she needed to be purified. Two months of
treatment ended with her drowning in a bathtub.
According to the family, Latifa, who died following repeated sessions of
exorcism, suffered numerous tortures (as defined by new articles 417a and 417b
of the penal code which provides for a punishment of 20 to 30 years). At the
first trial, guru Abdelkim Aznagui was aquitted and the sentences of his
accomplices were suspended.
After fighting for eight years, the oldest brother of Latifa, Fouad Hachmi, an
artist well-known in Brussels, finally succeeded in having the criminal court
declared incompetent so that the facts of the case will now be retried in the
Court of Assizes. It is a first for Belgium. The new proceedings will begin
next May.
The Facts
Married, Latifa was distraught because she was not able to have
children. The couple could have consulted a doctor: instead they went to see
"La Plume", a non-profit organization located on Waelhem Street in
Schaerbeek led by Aznagui. Aznagui is 55-years old and drives tow trucks.
According to him, Latifa could not have children because she was possessed by
the devil. The only way to drive the devil out was to drink water, while verses
from the Quran were recited, and then vomit it out. The evil spirits would
leave in the vomiting.
The sessions of purification, as they were called, lasted from
June to August in 2004. When Latifa died on August 6, Dr. Bonbled found
multiple bruises on the face and scalp, evidence of strangulation and
asphyxiation on the neck, a cerebral oedema, a pulmonary oedema, 43 bruises on
the legs, and as many bruises on the arms of Latifa who had protected herself
by laying in a fetal position.
The last roquia (exorcism) lasted 36 hours. Since the beginning of
June, Latifa, who was being starved, ate only yogurt.
The exorcism also included brain washing treatments. For 24 straight
hours, including during her sleep, headphones, stuck to her ears, repeated over
and over the same verses. A ritual stick used to hit Latifa, probably the
handle of a brush covered with "holy inscriptions," has not been
recovered. The exorcists chased the devil away by hitting Latifa "in
places on the body where he appeared." Another procedure consisted of
pulling the devil out by hand from the "back of the vagina" or by
pushing fingers deeply into her throat "descending toward the heart"
and pulling him out through the mouth.
In the end, Latifa, was plunged into the water of a bathtub. When
she struggled to be free, a convert, a certain Xavier Meert, subdued the young
woman by binding her wrists and knees and by holding her head under water. At
least once, Latifa, fighting back, pulled Meert's beard; Meert slapped her in
the face.
Latifa's husband also slapped her in the face. She lost
consciousness. No one called 100 (the number to call for medical emergencies).
Mazouj, Latifa's husband, wanted to revive his wife by pushing on her stomach.
Three glasses of water spurted out of her mouth. Latifa had died.
The doctor detected multiple bruises to her face and scalp, as
well as evidence on the neck of asphyxiation and strangulation, and 43 bruises
on the legs and as many on the arms.
Justice
Fouad's reports that he
has on many occasions, acting in behalf of his family, denounced the inertia of
government officials, as well as the indifference of both the Islamic Center
and of the Muslim Executive of Belgium for not fighting to eradicate the
shadowy practices ever present in the community.
The Center for Information and Advice on Harmful Sectarian
Organizations (CIAOSN), a national institution charged with warning the country
when a religious group presents a danger, especially in order to maintain
public order and health, has remained silent and has not sounded the alarm
against this sectarian deviation in the heart of Belgian Islam.
In 2011, the General Prosecutor's Office in Brussels asked for the
retrial before the Court of Assize, of the six accused individuals for acts of
"torture, in this case a deliberate inhuman treatment which produced a
severe pain or very serious or cruel physical suffering or threats, causing
death, without the intention of to kill." This is a first in Belgium. It
is the successful outcome of supplemental instruction conferred on the
investigating judge, Hervé Louveaux, on May 14 2009, by the Appeals Court of
Brussels.
It is a 180 degree reversal for the justice system in Brussels
which had earlier decided that the case belonged under the jurisdiction of the
criminal court, accompanied by charges that were much lighter than
"torture" (failure to help a person in danger, etc.). It is a victory
for the family of the victim, the plaintiffs, represented by Mr. Jean-Paul
Tieleman. The prosecutor is asking that the six accused be tried by the Assizes
on the basis of articles 417a and 417b. They could face up to 30 years of
prison. The six in question that will face trial are the presumed exorcist
Abdelkrim Aznagui, 58 years old; Xavier Meert, 43 years old; Mourad Mazouj, 33
years old, husband of the victim; and three women from Brussels: Hayate, 29
years old, Fatima, 40 years old, and Jamila, 43 years old.