A human rights body has called for the release of a clergyman and a university professor in South Sudan, in detention since last year for criticising government.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a recent statement, called for dropping of charges against the two, saying the arrests were a “systematic intimidation of civil society and attempt to suppress free speech”.
Last July, Abraham Chol Akech, a Juba-based leader of Cush International Ministries was arrested at his home by the police.
Days before, the 69-year-old cleric had told his congregation during a Sunday service that both President Salva Kiir and his deputy Rick Machar would be unseated from office on July 9th, the independence anniversary, to make way for new leadership.
Weeks later, Kuel Aguer Kuel, professor of economics at Stratford International University in South Sudan and a former governor of the North Bahr el-Ghazal State was picked up at a petrol station by the secret service. Kuel had called on the government to replace some ministers who have been in the cabinet even before the country’s independence in 2011.
This was days after the 66-year-old and other members of the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA), a group of critics, had advocated for government reforms in a memo published online. PCCA also called for peaceful protests nationwide on August 30, 2021.
Both Chol and Kuel have been accused of sabotage and undermining South Sudan’s constitution. They face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted, their lawyers say.
“The government needs to cease these abuses and foster an environment for open dialogue on matters of public interest and governance,” said Nyagoah Tut Por, South Sudan researcher at HRW.
Kiir and his deputy have been in power since 2005 in the then-partly autonomous south Sudan. In mid-December 2013, friction between the two men erupted into a war that killed thousands and displaced millions from their homes. Machar was removed from his position and was only reinstated after signing a peace deal in 2018.
Under their administration, politicians and dissidents have been arrested on charges that human rights activists say trumped up. Chol and Kuel are the latest.
