PH
Human rights organisations have accused senior government officials and military personnel in South Sudan’s Lakes State of unlawfully arresting and detaining more than 500 people without charge.
“Innocent people are arbitrarily arrested by army officers and government officials and taken to prison, where they are kept for long periods without trial,” a human rights activist in Lakes State’s capital, Rumbek, Gideon Luk, alleged.
We have detainees, who have spent over six months in detention without trial
Some people, he explained, are only arrested because they are not liked and not because they have flouted any laws.
“At times, the arrests are due to minor issues like quarrelling over women, rivalry at jobs and businesses, and sometimes due to mere hatred,” Luk said.
Both adults and minors are kept in the same cells, he said.
Luk said human rights activists had written to the central government of South Sudan complaining about the arbitrary arrests but had not received a response.
But a prisons officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said their hands are tied, as the arrests are ordered by senior government officials and military men.
“We have detainees, who have spent over six months in detention without trial.
“They were arrested by senior government officials and security operators, who do not proffer charges against them, but instruct us not to release them until they tell us to do so,” the official said.
Lakes State security adviser, Marial Amuom Malek, said his office will launch an investigation into the matter.
