Semira Adamu
Semira Adamu was a 20-year-old asylum seeker from Nigeria who was suffocated to death with a pillow by two Belgian police officers who tried to calm her during their expulsion effort. She first fled Nigeria because of a forced marriage.
On 12 December 2003, four police were held responsible for this incident in the trial that followed. The Belgian state was ordered to pay compensation to the relatives.
Adamu's death sparked a huge debate in Belgium and led to the Etienne Vermeersch report on the practice of expulsion. In September 1998 Louis Tobback, the Belgian Interior Minister, resigned after a wave of public protests against Adamu's death.
