What crosses your mind when your cellphone rings, showing an unnamed line on the screen? Before you press ‘Accept’ or ‘Reject’, you probably say to yourself: ‘Who could this be? Could it be an old friend? Could it be my brother, son or daughter using a matron’s phone to reach me? Or is it my new business partner?’

Well, Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro, the former governor of Western Equatoria, answered such a call on Tuesday, 22 December, a telephone call which marked the beginning of the ending of his freedom of movement for the next 4 months.

On that fateful day, Bakosoro said: “Hello”. The voice on the other end of the line, after a brief introduction, said he was required to report to the National Security Headquarters at Jebel as soon as possible.

This call came 3 months shortly after he spent 5 days at a military detention facility in Juba, following his dismissal as Governor of the former Western Equatoria State. He was later released without charges.

It’s unclear why Mr Bakosoro was detained. However, he was relieved in the same month of August 2015 along with Simon Kun of Upper Nile, Clement Wani Konga of Central Equatoria, and Nyandeng Malek of Warrap.

Mr Bakosoro was freed a day after the parliamentary caucus of Equatoria region MPs raised a concern about his health.

‘It’s political’

Anyway, as a law abiding citizen, Bakosoro hopped into his car and drove to the national security office where he was told: “Mr Former governor, you are detained”.

Though Bakosoro could not explain the motive behind his arrest, he suspected he might have made statements critical of the government last year.

“Probably they might have seen me talking negatively against the government or whatever that I might have said.”

After insisting to know why he had to be held, a senior security officer told him “It’s political”. End of story.

Despite the fact that the law stipulates that an individual must be charged and tried in a competent court of law, Bakosoro was never charged or presented in court.

Even though he was also denied access to a lawyer, Bakosoro, who seems to be conversant with how the ‘system’ works in this country, had already braced himself for absence of legal representation in his case.

“In a political scenario like this, it’s not really necessary unless the authorities refer you to the court. Then they will ask you to bring your lawyer,” Bakosoro told Eye Radio.

For the next 2 months or so, his family struggled to see him. But the national security denied the man family visit, including wife and children.

Every time they showed up at the gate of the detention facility dubbed the ‘Blue House’, they would be turned away immediately.

However, they kept trying until early March 2016, when they were allowed to visit him regularly.

‘No grudge’

Asked how he feels about the arbitrary detention, Bakosoro said he is not bitter about it.

“I’ve no grudge against the President; I’ve no grudge against the government; I’ve no grudge against the security. They are doing their work,” he said.

“The best part is that, I’ve been detained and I’ve been released to continue with politics. Let’s not begin to open the old wounds.”

He said that as a politician, he expected to be arrested any time.

“As a politician, get your pillow ready. As soon as you are called, you just go and you are detained.”

Torture

Though political prisoners are tortured globally, Bakosoro said he never got assaulted during the confinement.

However, he suffered mentally. Thoughts of family and work disturbed so much.

“When it rained, I’d feel l should be in my farm, but I was in detention. I also felt by this time, I could be with my family, but I couldn’t be with my family. That’s a psychological torture,” he explained his ordeal.

Torture can be defined as the intentional infliction of severe mental or physical pain or suffering by or with the consent of the state authorities for a specific purpose.

Release

In the evening of Wednesday, 28 April, while at the medical room, getting tablets from the doctor, he received a message from an officer: “You’re released. Go home”.

He was freed on an order from President Salva Kiir.

A day or two later, Prof Leonzio Angole Onek was also released. He was one of the 35 men, including Bakosoro, the national security service is holding incommunicado.

Prof Onek was arrested on 7 December 2015 at around 4pm while driving from the University of Juba campus to his home in the University’s faculty compound.

NSS officers drove him to the NSS headquarters where he was held. The national security never charged him or disclosed any reason for his prolonged arbitrary detention.

Onek holds a PhD in biochemistry from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. He has taught at the University of Juba since 2010 and was appointed Dean of the College of Applied and Industrial Sciences in 2014.