Kenyan court says former S Sudan embassy official asks ransom to free two detained dissidents
Elisabeth Janaina
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Kenyan court says former S Sudan embassy official asks ransom to free two detained dissidents
NAIROBI (21 Feb.)
Affidavits filed in the High Court of Kenya revealed that the two South Sudanese who have been missing in Nairobi since last month, could be released for a ransom of $10,000.
Dong Samuel Luak is a prominent lawyer and opposition figure who has spoken out against human rights abuses in South Sudan. Aggrey Idri Izbon is a chairman of the SPLM-IO committee for humanitarian affairs under rebel leader Riek Machar.
Last week, two affidavits revealed that John Top Lam, a former South Sudanese intelligence officer in Kenya, who was accused of involvement in the disappearance of the two men, allegedly claim Dong and Aggrey, could be released for a ransom of $10,000.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Elizabeth Deng, Amnesty International Researcher, confirmed that there were some affidavits from Dong's family member in which Top Lam had asked for $10,000 to facilitate the release of Deng Samuel and Aggrey Idri.Deng further said another affidavit revealed that Top Lam had a conversation with Micheal Kuajien in which he also asked for the same amount of money to hire some friends to find out the whereabouts of the two missing men.
The researcher predicted that the court will issue its final ruling based on its findings on Wednesday. “Our main hope is that the whereabouts of Aggrey and Dong will be identified, and they will be found healthy and safe," she said."So, we are hoping that the judge will continue to persuade Kenya authorities to find out what exactly happened to them, and we are also calling for other international agencies to help on the issue," she added.
Separately, Rev. Ayaa , Aggrey's wife, expressed her frustration with the court proceedings.“It has reached four weeks now and as family, we are tired," she said."We are being ask to attend the court sessions and during the last day, we were there and everybody gave what he had, so I hope the final ruling will be on Wednesday,” she added.