Press Statement by SSHRO

[Elisabeth Janaina]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UNLAWFUL ARRESTS, DISAPPEARANCE AND DETENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
DEFENDERS IN SOUTH SUDAN
.
Pretoria
, (11
th
August 2017)
-
We welcome the announcement by Jalban Obaj, the Director of Legal
Affairs at the Internal Security Bureau of the National Security
Service that the body has released 30
political prisoners.
We note with great concern that this gesture is cosmetic because t
housands of South Sudanese and
foreigners are still unlawfully detained across South Sudan.
It is very disturbing, however, that while government is releasing a
handful of political prisoners, it is
also arresting and detaining many more opponents, human
rights defenders and civil society activists
unlawfully.
There are credible report
s
of government operatives hunting, harassing and kidnapping political
opponents, human rights defenders and South Sudanese civil
society activists in the neighbouring
countr
ies of Kenya and Uganda.
We draw the attention of the Government to the fact
that mass arrests of government opponents
including house arrests and unlawfully muzzling of peaceful dissent is
against the constitution of the
Republic of South Sudan
We therefore call upon the government
of South Sudan to release all political prisoners including those
under house arrest unconditionally. We urge the international
community not to reward the Kiir
’
s
administration for its cosmetic gesture releasing handful of
prisoners while the bulk of politi
cal
prisoners are languishing in detention centres across the
country under horrible conditions including
tortures.
The recent decision by the government to ban several web
-
based news outlets in South Sudan
is another
manifestation of the
G
overnment
’
s policy to
silent
dissent
and to
muzzle the press and curtail freedom
of speech at a time when South Sudanese are urged to participate
in
a national dialogue to find a peaceful
solution to the four years of conflict in South Sudan.
About SSHRO
South Su
dan Human Rights Observatory (SSHRO) is a network of South Sudanese and non
-
South Sudanese volunteers from
different backgrounds and with different expertise who are
committed to documenting and disseminating reliable information
about human rights violati
ons in South Sudan.
END