Rights entity urges probe into disappearance of Dong and Aggrey

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Rights entity urges probe into disappearance of Dong and Aggrey

File photo

The Centre for Peace and Justice, a human rights group in South Sudan, has urged the international community to set up a commission of inquiry to probe into the disappearance of Dong Samuel Luak and Aggrey Idri in Kenya early this year.

Dong Samuel, a prominent South Sudanese lawyer and human rights activist went missing in Nairobi in the night of January 23.  

Aggrey Idri, a member of the opposition allied to rebel leader Riek Machar went missing on January 24.

The current whereabouts and fate of the two men remain unknown."Currently if they are still alive then they are subjected to different types of abuses including torture while in the hands of both Kenyan and South Sudanese governments,” CPJ said in a statement dated 6 August.

"We also urge other rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project and Solidarity and Advocacy of Vulnerable Individuals in Crisis to carryout serious investigations in Kenya and South Sudan to know the whereabouts of Aggrey Idri and Dong Luak,” adds the statement.

The rights entity called on South Sudan government to immediately release Riek Machar’s former spokesman James Gatdet Dak or take him to court. 

James Gatdet was deported and handed over to South Sudan government by Kenyan authorities in November 2016.