Amnesty addresses fresh rights violations

Amnesty International says hundreds of people have been detained and tortured by the South Sudanese authorities during the civil war that started in 2013. The rights group said many of them are political detainees accused of being linked to the opposition and there have been cases of prisoners being sexually assaulted. It says cases of enforced disappearances have also been flagged. In addition, it noted that the South Sudanese Government has become increasingly intolerant of any form of criticism. ‘People in South Sudan have been arrested for their political and ethnic affiliations and are then subjected to unimaginable suffering – sometimes leading to death – at the hands of the government’s security forces,’ said Seif Magango, Amnesty deputy director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes. He said the government must release the detainees or charge them with internationally recognisable offences. It must also hold to account all those responsible for these grave human rights violations and deaths in detention,’ Magango added.