South Sudan intelligence kidnaps students at Juba University

June 6, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudanese military intelligence officers collaborating with the national security service have snatched and detained at least two students at Juba University and drove them to unknown location, raising concerns for their safety since Friday, relatives and student union said Monday.

Chan Deng Maror and Peter Angui Bol, according to the students’ union and relatives, were picked up by the military intelligence officers on Friday morning upon arrival to the university from their hostel.

The motive of the arrest remains largely unclear and no official statement has been released by the administration of the university to clarify circumstances under which the arrest was permitted within the premises of the higher learning institution.

Juba University has been one of the places within Juba where people with critical opinion about the performance of the government have been kidnapped at gunpoint by either security personnel driving tainted cars or military intelligence officers during broad day light and taken to unknown locations, where some ended up being tortured and sometimes badly beaten unconscious after being blindfolded.

Some are often held for more than a month. Others are held in locations that the government has not revealed, without access to lawyers or contact with family, putting them at increased risk of torture.

South Sudanese government under President Salva Kiir has repeatedly and violently targeted critical activists, including political opponents as a way to intimidate and suppress.

Authorities have arbitrarily detained, tortured, and otherwise ill-treated detained suspects.

(ST)