Mr. Dong speaks in a public debate in a Juba hotel on 22 June 2013.

Human rights watchdogs are urging Kenya and South Sudan to probe disappearance of critics Aggrey Idri and Dong Samuel.

Dong is a human rights lawyer; while Idri is a member of the opposition.

The men disappeared in Nairobi in January 2017.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said credible sources reported they had seen both men in National Security Service detention facility in Juba on January 25 and 26, 2017. The authorities in Juba denied.

“If the two men are in the national security custody, as evidence suggests, they are both at risk of abuse, including torture,” their statement read.

They say the South Suda government’s inaction and unwillingness to investigate the disappearances, and the status and whereabouts of Dong and Aggrey are an abdication of its binding legal obligations.

“This demonstrates total disregard for the men’s fundamental rights, and exacerbates their families’ concerns,” they said.

They stressed that the Kenyan police and the South Sudanese authorities should ensure effective, transparent, and impartial investigations into their disappearances.