Belgian U-turn over Ecuadoreans

Angelica Cajamarca, 11, has been behind bars for a month

Belgium has halted the repatriation of an 11-year-old Ecuadorean girl and her mother, in a case that has gripped the nation and drawn pleas for leniency.

A Brussels court issued an injunction against their deportation on Monday as they were already en route to Amsterdam to board a plane for Ecuador.

They were immediately returned to Brussels, Belgian foreign office spokesman Geert de Vulder said.

He said Ana Cajamarca and her daughter Angelica would be released.

They were detained on 30 June. Police said they had been living illegally in Belgium since 2003. The girl's father is believed to be in Belgium too.

Selma Benkhelifa, a lawyer for Ana and Angelica, was quoted as saying her clients had been mistreated during the deportation procedure.

Belgium's handling of the Ecuadorean pair drew a protest from Ecuador's First Lady on Sunday.

Anne Malherbe, the Belgian-born wife of Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, said their detention had left them "clearly very traumatised".

"I hope Belgium backtracks, because this is really a terrible case," she told the RTL-TVi television channel.

"They have been affected by the walls, the bars, the armed police... locking up a child cannot have a good outcome," she added.

About 60 people protested outside the detention centre near Brussels on Sunday, calling for the mother and girl to be released.