Activist detained by NSS after accusing SPLM of ‘outlaw behavior’

RENK – A South Sudan activist is being held by the National Security Service (NSS) in Upper Nile state after criticizing the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) under President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

Yan Simon Gony wrote in an article, now deleted, on November 16 that SPLM politicians “exemplify outlaw behavior and moral decay” and that the group’s members “operate outside the law, perpetuating corruption and moral deterioration that stands in stark contrast to those who uphold ethics, legality, and social order.”

The outspoken activist accused the SPLM leaders of resorting “to violence against their opponents, as their emblem suggests, although the emblem itself does not define them.”

“At the heart of the red emblem lies the notion of moral superiority, a principle that demands preservation and upholding,” he added in the Facebook post.

Speaking to Sudans Post on Sunday, friends of the detained activist said their colleague was arrested on November 17 in Renk, Upper Nile, a day after the article termed hostile on social media.

“He was arrested on Friday, in the morning on November 17. And I think the reason is what he wrote on social media against the SPLM party,” said Gai’ one of Gony’s griend.

“But he was expressing his opinion and he shouldn’t have been arrested. That’s what it takes to say something in this country,” he added.

Another friend of the detained activist who prefers anonymity said Yien recently returned from Khartoum and were settling in Renk because their hometown of Nasir was flooded.

He said that they went to the police station and were told that their colleague was not there, but later learned that he was being held at the NSS office.

“We went there (police station) and were told he is not there and we then found out that he was being held by the National Security Service and the post is even deleted,” he said.