URGENT ACTION
SOUTH SUDANESE ACTIVIST ARBITRARILY DETAINED 
Bashir Ahmed Mohamed Babiker, a member of the South Sudanese civil society, was arrested by the National Security Service (NSS) in Yambio on Wednesday 8 August. He is being held at a NSS detention centre in Yambio. No charges have been brought against him and he has not had access to a lawyer.  
Bashir Ahmed Mohamed Babiker, a South Sudanese human rights activist was arrested by NSS agents in Yambio in Western Equatoria on Wednesday, 8 August at 12pm. The father of two was taken to a NSS detention centre in Yambio where he is currently being held. He has not been informed of the reasons of his arrest or brought before a court. While he has been allowed family visits, he has not been given access to a lawyer.
Bashir’s health has deteriorated since he was detained. His family has been informed that he had been able to see a doctor at the Military Hospital in Yambio, but they are still worried about his health. 
Please write immediately in English, Arabic or your own language:
•	Calling on South Sudanese authorities to immediately release Bashir Ahmed Mohamed Babiker, or charge him with a recognizable criminal offence; 
•	        Calling on South Sudanese authorities to ensure that Bashir Ahmed Mohamed Babiker is not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment while in detention; 
•	Calling on South Sudanese authorities to ensure Bashir Ahmed Mohamed Babiker is granted regular access to his family, any healthcare he may require from a qualified medical practitioner and a lawyer of his choice.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 8 OCTOBER 2018 TO:

President of the Republic of South Sudan 
Salva Kiir Mayardit
Twitter: @RepSouthSudan
Salutation: Your Excellency 

Minister for National Security in the Office of the President 
Obuto Mamur Mete
Salutation: Your Excellency 

South Sudan has no postal system. Please send your appeals in the care of diplomatic representatives accredited to your country,
listed below. If there is no South Sudanese embassy in your country, please mail the letter to the Permanent Mission of the Republic
of South Sudan to the United Nations, 336 East 45th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA. 
Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. 

URGENT ACTION
SOUTH SUDANESE ACTIVIST ARBITRARILY DETAINED  
ADditional Information
Since the start of South Sudan’s internal armed conflict in December 2013, hundreds of people, mostly men, have been detained under the authority of the National Security Service (NSS) and Military Intelligence Directorate in various detention facilities across the capital city, Juba. Many of those who have been detained have been held under the category of “political detainees” on allegations that they have communicated with or supported the opposition. 

Amnesty International has documented numerous arbitrary detentions by the NSS in multiple facilities where detainees are often subjected to torture and other ill-treatment – some held incommunicado without access to a lawyer, or family members. Others have been forcibly disappeared. In the NSS detention centers, detainees are often fed a monotonous diet of beans and posho. Most detainees sleep on the floor. Some have been badly beaten, especially during interrogation, or as a form of punishment.  Due to the poor conditions of the prisons, as well as inadequate access to medical care, the health of those detained often deteriorates. 

Prolonged and arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and torture and other ill-treatment have all been frequently employed by the authorities in South Sudan since the initial outbreak of the conflict in December 2013. But there appears to have been an increase in the targeting of those seen to be aligned with the opposition following the clashes between government and opposition forces in Juba in July 2016 as part of the government’s increasingly brutal counter-insurgency campaign against real and perceived opponents. 

South Sudan’s political environment has become increasingly intolerant of any form of criticism of government actions and policies, leading to intimidation, harassment and detention of civil society activists, human rights defenders and independent journalists. This has led to an environment of self-censorship for media and human rights workers where, with the pervasive state surveillance, people no longer feel safe to speak freely and openly about the country’s ongoing conflict.

Name: Bashir Ahmed Mohamed Babiker 
Gender m/f: male

UA: 147/18 Index: AFR 65/8994/2018 Issue Date: 27 August 2018