The Mawda Case: Police Violence and Media Misrepresentation in Belgium

Eight years ago, Mawda, a two-year-old Kurdish girl, was killed by Belgian police during an operation targeting migrants at the border. The case has since become a symbol of racist migration policies in Belgium. Journalist and filmmaker Marta Bergman created the fiction film “L’enfant bélier” (The Ram Girl) inspired by this crime. However, the film has been criticized for depoliticizing the case, omitting political responsibility, and removing the solidarity efforts of the public, presenting instead a purely psychological narrative focused on the emotional struggle of the police officer who fired the fatal shot. In reality, the media and authorities initially misrepresented the incident, spreading false narratives that criminalized the victims and invented the legend of the “ram girl.” The prosecution falsely claimed the death could have been caused by an illness or an accidental injury, while in reality, the child died from a traumatic head injury during the police altercation. The officer involved was trained to shoot and had alternative methods to detain migrants, yet he was sentenced to just eight months for negligence, which he never served. The film omits these political and social dimensions, and the funeral and public demonstrations that honored Mawda were funded by grassroots solidarity, which the fiction does not show. Overall, the film contributes to the distortion of a real case with significant social and political implications.