High Court grants bail to jailed government critic

The Juba High Court on Friday granted bail to activist and government critic Maurice Mabio Awekjok-Bake, who is currently facing defamation charges in the Juba County Court and is being held at the National Security Service (NSS) detention centre.

Last month, the presiding Magistrate The activist, who has been detained for about 18 months, was rejected for bail.

Mabior, a former refugee from Kenya, was abducted in Nairobi on February 4, 2023 and returned to South Sudan, where he had been detained by National Security Service officers, who refused to acknowledge they were holding him until he suddenly In court this April.

The activist is in court fighting a defamation lawsuit brought by Gen. Akol Koor Kuc, head of the National Security Service’s Internal Security Directorate.

Senior lawyer Kiir Chol Deng, who appeared for the defendants in court, told Radio Tamazuj this afternoon that High Court Judge Francis Amum had Revocation The county court entered a judgment and ordered the defendant to be released on bail.

“During the last trial, we applied for bail for the accused but the trial judge refused so we appealed to the High Court and now the court agrees with us that the accused is entitled to bail because the offence he was tried for is a bailable offence and he should not be sentenced to 21 months in jail,” said Chol.

The defence lawyer revealed that his client is facing two defamation suits and another for offence against the state filed by the Internal Security Bureau (ISB).

“There are two cases, one is defamation, this defamation case was filed by General Akol Kull, so now we are talking about defamation and the defendant will be released for this case. The defendant is also being detained by the National Security Service for some crimes he has committed against the state, and this case is now before the Supreme Court,” Joel explained.

“If the NSA does not release my client, then this will constitute contempt of court. We will initiate legal action against those who refuse to comply with the court order,” he concluded.