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Belgium's secretary of state for asylum and migration, Theo Francken tweeted this image in 2017 of his meeting with the Sudanese ambassador, promising action on the refugees in Brussels' Parc Maximilien (Photo: Twitter)

Feature

Belgium's collaboration with Sudan's secret service: my story

Belgium's secretary of state for asylum and migration, Theo Francken tweeted this image in 2017 of his meeting with the Sudanese ambassador, promising action on the refugees in Brussels' Parc Maximilien (Photo: Twitter)

Cairo, 2013. A Sudanese journalist asked me to meet with a Sudanese refugee in one of the bars of downtown Cairo. Back then, I lived and worked in Cairo.

The refugee was a young man, with the name Mubarak, an Arabic name meaning "the blessed".

When he told me his story, his life appeared not to be blessed at all. A soldier who deserted, he tried to flee Sudan three times after he refused to execute an order to kill someone.

Twice he was caught, put in prison and tortured. ...

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