Human Rights Watch is calling for a credible and thorough investigation into the “unlawful” activities of the National Security Service in South Sudan, accusing it of gross human rights violations.
The rights watchdog has accused officers of the national security service of torture, ill-treatment of detainees, including beatings, piercing them with needles, dripping melted hot plastic on them, hanging them upside down from a rope, electrical shocks, and rape.
It said the agency has indiscriminately detained various people, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, and children.
In a 78- page report titled; “What Crime Was I Paying for?’ Abuses by South Sudan’s National Security Service,” the rights group studied the patterns of abuse by the NSS between 2014 and 2020.
It highlighted on –what it refers to as the atmosphere of fear that National Security Service creates.
Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 85 people, including former NSS detainees, family members of detainees, activists, policy analysts, civil servants, former military, security, and intelligence personnel, family members of victims of NSS abuses, representatives of domestic and international nongovernmental organizations, diplomats, and United Nations officials.
The report also draws on research published by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, South Sudan’s Human Rights Commission, the UN Mission in South Sudan, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, the UN Panel of Experts on South Sudan, and other international and domestic NGOs.
The organization research further identified the obstacles to justice for these abuses to include; denying due process for detainees, the lack of any meaningful judicial or legislative oversight of the agency.
It also disclosed the legal immunity for National Security Service agents, and what it described as a lack of political will to address the widespread violations.
The organization accused South Sudanese leaders of failing to stem or investigate the appalling abuses by the country’s security service.
“Our research identified three main detention sites used by the security service in Juba; Blue House, Riverside and Hai Jalaba –although none is authorized by lawful detention purposes,” said Carine Kaneza is Africa Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch.
According to an intelligence official who spoke to the Human Rights Watch, the NSS reportedly held at least 200 people at the Blue House.
“The National Security Service has even used residential houses for detention purposes. Detainees are sometimes held for months or years without access to their lawyers or families,” Kaneza stated.
Human Rights Watch says the NSS has –since the outbreak of the civil war in December 2013 –regularly targeted journalists, activists, opposition figures, and critics for detention and other abuses.
It revealed that the agency also conducted unlawful physical and telephone surveillance of some people interviewed before and after their release, prompting several to flee the country. It has also harassed and abducted South Sudanese in neighboring countries like Kenya and Uganda.
In its recommendations, the organization demands that the government orders the closure of all unauthorized detention sites, and release detainees.
It also suggests that the Revitalized Transitional National Legislature of South Sudan – once established – should urgently revise the National Security Act, to impose genuine limits on the role and powers of the agency.