Amnesty International calls for release of all in NSS detention in Juba

April 30, 2016 (JUBA) – Amnesty International, a global human rights body, has commended the South Sudan’s government for releasing two senior officials who had been under detention since December last year and called on Juba to release 33 others still under detention.

“This week, we received good news that two men kept under arbitrary detention by the National Security Service in South Sudan, whom Amnesty International has been campaigning for, have been released. The two were part of 35 men that Amnesty International confirmed are being held at the NSS [National Security Service] headquarters in Jebel neighbourhood of Juba,” partly reads a statement from the Amnesty International extended to Sudan Tribune.

The two released this week include former governor of Western Equatoria state, Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro, who was freed upon arrival to Juba of Riek Machar, first vice president, and Leonzio Angole Onek, a Juba University professor, who was released two days earlier.

Bakosoro was arrested on 22 December 2015 at around 3pm after being summoned to the NSS headquarters in the Jebel neighbourhood. He was kept in incommunicado detention until early March when he was allowed family visits. No charged were filed against him.

Onek, who was arrested on 7 December 2015, on the other hand was released on ‘humanitarian grounds’ and without charge by the NSS. Since his arrest, Onek did not have access to a lawyer and did not know why the NSS were holding him.

“The remaining 33 detainees have been denied the right to be brought promptly before a judge and the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention,” said Nyagoah Tut, a South Sudanese human rights campaigner for the Amnesty International organization.

She said some detainees are being held incommunicado, without any access to family members or the outside world.

“Detainees are fed a monotonous diet, and sometimes only eat once a day. They sleep on the floor and do not have access to adequate medical care. Some have been beaten, especially during interrogation or as a form of punishment. These poor conditions amount to ill-treatment and may also amount to torture in some cases,” she said.

Nyagoa added that this 33 number of the known detainees however represents a mere fraction of people being detained by NSS and other security forces such as the military in South Sudan.

(ST)