I am worried about the (political)
progression of South Sudan- especially in the last few months. Often I –jokingly- state that we are not a
democracy- and it is true that it takes quite a long time for any country led
by its liberation movement to adapt democratic ideals. So on paper, yes we are
a democracy but on the ground?
But I am worried because it feels
like things are slowly getting more repressive –if that makes sense.
·
First there
are the human rights reports
o
Denouncing
the soldiers involved in disarmament in Jonglei – accusations of beatings and
torture of citizens in certain counties of Jonglei
o
Reports on
unlawful detention and imprisonment and the prison conditions- we keep our
cattle in better conditions than we keep most of our prisoners, basically.
o
The death
penalty- 2 men were hanged in Juba prison in august. With a very weak judicial
system, very few lawyers- most of whom are unaffordable, two distinct systems
of law, customary and statutory- which are sometimes contradictory- its hard to
say if these men received anything close to a fair trial
·
There are
the arbitrary arrests by the police. It’s very easy to get someone arrested in
South Sudan. E.g. you could spend a night in prison if you are head of an
organization and you dismiss someone working in your organization. Does not matter if
they deserved to lose their job, or if the case is still in the court system but has
not been resolved. Does not also matter what the law states. (this happened last
week to someone I know). i am not sure you are supposed to arrest an individual in a case that involves company policy- unless they broke the law. i am also not sure if prison is a justifiable response to this kind of civil suit.
o
If there is
a (criminal or civil) case against you that the police are investigating- they put
you in jail until the case is resolved. There is no system to go to court to
ascertain guilt or innocence prior or soon after this detainment. There is no ‘innocent until proven guilty’. You
simply go to jail and then wait. So.. for example if I accuse someone of theft-
the police will arrest him, put him in jail and then ‘investigate’. Only if the
accuser comes and states that the case is resolved will the person be released-
in most cases. So the family usually has to follow up with the accuser... And
lets not even talk about issues of customary law…
2 members of the South
Sudan Civil Society Alliance were
kidnapped and tortured earlier this year (July and Oct). One was released after
the president instructed the security forces to find out where he was being
held (makes you wonder if they were not the ones holding him in the first
place.) And the other was found dumped- severely beaten but still alive- at a juba graveyard. Both had received threats and had been accused of working
against the interest of the new nation. (And obviously, whenever one criticizes government- one is often accused of not having been in the bush fighting,
therefore having no right to make any demands).
Then came the expulsion of the UN
Human Rights Commissioner in November. I haven’t heard any official explanation
given for this – but maybe I just don’t follow the news.
Then yesterday comes news of the
murder of an journalist who was critical of South Sudanese leadership- Isaiah
Abraham. Apparently he too had been
warned and threatened several times against criticizing the government.
http://www.cpj.org/2012/12/south-sudan-should-investigate-columnists-murder.php
All this makes one wonder if this
is not a downward trend into state-sanctioned repression and to a lack of rule of
law. Seemingly there is no freedom of expression- or rather it only exists when you are not critical of whatever is happening in the political sphere.
Does not portend well
