Idriss Awaleh, an exiled Djiboutian opposition activist, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Belgian court for a vicious attack that ended in the torture of his political rival, Liban Moustapha Hassan, who had his eyeballs gouged out.
According to AFP on Tuesday, Awaleh, 40, was convicted of "Torture involving the loss of an organ" after a brutal assault on Hassan, also 40, in November 2016. On December 15, the Brussels appeals court issued this verdict, which resulted in Awaleh's immediate detention.
Both individuals were involved in Djibouti opposition politics, but had a falling out due to a series of intense internal arguments, according to the court.
In the early hours of November 6, 2016, a taxi driver near Porte de Namur in Brussels' central business district called the police after seeing Moustapha Hassan laying injured by the roadside, bleeding profusely from his eye sockets. He was brought to the hospital, and while he lived, he lost his sight as a result of his severe injuries.
Moustapha Hassan told police he was the victim of a politically motivated attack.
Awaleh, a Djibouti-Dutch national born in Somalia, came at a separate hospital in Brussels 12 hours later, seeking treatment for loose teeth and facial injuries. He was eventually apprehended.
