The sudden removal of the only Moroccan TV channel from Merksplas prison in Belgium pushed three inmates to file complaints, but the prison complaints commission eventually turned them all down.
A Moroccan channel removed overnight
At the end of January 2026, inmates at Merksplas prison, in the province of Antwerp, realised that the only Moroccan channel in their TV package had disappeared. No explanation was given on screen.
On 27 January, three separate complaints were lodged. They were registered under files KC21/26-0017, KC21/26-0018 and KC21/26-0019. All three raised the very same issue: the disappearance of that single Moroccan channel in the facility.
The official decisions do not mention the name of the channel, nor the nationality of the complainants. Yet for many Moroccans detained across Europe, such channels are often a fragile but vital link to their language, news and culture.
Merksplas prison points to the TV provider
On 2 February, the management of Merksplas prison was asked to respond. The next day, it replied that it had never decided to remove the Moroccan channel.
According to the prison, the list of available channels is not set by the director but by an external company that supplies the TV package. It is therefore this provider that appears to have changed the line-up offered to inmates.
The complaints commission then focused on a legal point: can it be seized when the decision does not formally come from the prison director or someone acting on their behalf?
Three complaints rejected, and a gap for the inmates
On 25 April, the Merksplas complaints commission issued its rulings in the three cases. It rejected the complaints, arguing that it is only competent to review decisions taken by the director or in the director’s name.
In this case, responsibility was attributed to the TV provider. The commission therefore did not rule on whether a Moroccan channel should be maintained in the prison, nor on the impact of its removal on the inmates concerned.
The decisions are available on Belgium’s official online database of prison case law, in particular under file KC21/26-0017.
What it means for Moroccans held abroad
This case highlights a reality many families of Moroccan inmates in Europe are not fully aware of. Access to Arabic or Moroccan-related channels is often unstable and depends on technical contracts signed with private operators.
For relatives living abroad, these channels are one of the few ways to keep a tenuous link with everyday life back home. When they are cut, inmates lose a key window to Moroccan news, religious and cultural programmes, and their own language.
The story also underlines a limit in the protection system: internal complaints procedures in prison mostly target management decisions, leaving very little leverage over commercial choices made by service providers.
A broader question than this case alone
For Moroccans living abroad, the situation raises a wider question: how can a minimum, stable access to Moroccan content be secured in sensitive collective spaces such as prisons, closed centres or certain care institutions?
Beyond nostalgia, this is a concrete issue of cultural and linguistic connection that directly affects the most vulnerable. Debates around legal TV packages, alternatives to piracy and the spread of illegal IPTV services take on a very human dimension in this context.
To better support their relatives and understand existing rights and procedures, families and Moroccans abroad can turn to practical resources, including information published by the Moroccan ministry in charge of Moroccans living abroad and our own Canal212 guidance on key administrative steps.
- The only Moroccan TV channel in the prison vanished without a formal decision from management.
- Three complaints were filed and rejected because the commission lacked jurisdiction.
- The private TV provider sits at the heart of the case.
For more context, readers can follow Canal212 news for Moroccans abroad.
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