A POLICEMAN went on trial for involuntary manslaughter in Belgium today for shooting a two-year-old refugee girl dead during a car chase.

Two others are on trial for human trafficking and dangerous driving in a case that rights campaigners say underlines the lethal consequences of criminalising irregular migration.

Kurdish toddler Mawda Shawri died after being shot in the head in May 2018 when the driver of the van she was travelling in through Belgium en route to Britain tried to escape from police trying to inspect it. The officer who shot her, who has not been named, states that the shot was fired to scare the van’s driver but the police car swerved, sending it astray. 

He also says he was unaware the van was carrying any refugees. In fact 30 were on board.

Protesters rallied outside the courthouse with banners reading Justice for Mawda, and celebrities including musicians Roger Waters and Peter Gabriel and British film director Ken Loach have called for the case to prompt a changed attitude to refugees.

“These are people who are fleeing terror, frightened for their lives, the most exploited, endangered people ... we can imagine,” Mr Loach said in a video message. “What circumstances justify shooting into a van full of people?”

Mr Waters urged: “Do not let them sweep the death of this child under a rug.”

Lawyers for the police officer say he is “wiped out” by the girl’s death and he feels “he has to carry the errors of the state prosecutors, of migration policy.”

If convicted he could face up to two years behind bars, while those driving the van may be jailed for up to 30 years.