Rights groups urges South Sudan’s national security to release dissident
June 12, 2024 (NAIROBI) – Authorities in South Sudan must comply with the directive by the Minister of Justice and immediately release government critic Morris Mabior Awikjok Bak, who is detained for over 400 days, a rights group said.
Amnesty International said Mabior was forcibly returned to South Sudan after being arbitrarily arrested in Kenya on February 4, 2023 and has been held at the Blue House, the National Security Service’s (NSS) headquarters, in Juba.
The rights group questioned why the activist is still being detained by security agents, despite a June 10 directive from the Justice ministry calling for his release.
“Amnesty International welcomes the Justice Minister’s decision to quash the baseless charges against Morris Mabior Awikjok Bak. It is a travesty that he has been unlawfully detained for more than a year and denied routine visits by family members, as well as access to medical attention,” said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.
She added, “Morris Mabior Awikjok Bak’s continued arbitrary detention is in violation of both international human rights law and South Sudanese law. This is a blatant abuse of office by the NSS authorities. He must be immediately and unconditionally released.”
According to Amnesty International, Mabior’s detention by the NSS without trial violates international human rights law, which requires an arrested person to be brought promptly before a judge to exercise judicial power and to be tried within a reasonable time or to be released. It also violates his rights as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights of the 2011 South Sudan Constitution.
The campaign group further called on the South Sudan authorities to take additional measures to guarantee Mabior’s safety and security once he is released from detention, and to ensure that his rights are not infringed upon.
Meanwhile Amnesty International said it has documented numerous cases of arbitrary detention by the NSS in multiple facilities where detainees are often subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, some held incommunicado without access to a lawyer or family members.
(ST)