By Deng Ghai Deng
Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) has raised concerns over the disappearance of Emmanuel Monychol Akop, Editor-in-Chief of The Dawn Daily English Newspaper, following his alleged arrest by the National Security Service (NSS) last month.
On November 28th, officers believed to be from the NSS visited The Dawn office in Juba, held a meeting with Akop, and subsequently took him into custody. Since then, Akop has not been heard from, and no arrest warrant was presented to the staff.
Patrick Oyet, President of UJOSS, emphasized that South Sudanese law mandates that any individual arrested be brought before a competent court within 24 hours.
“At the moment we don’t have any official information. What we have is informational information. [Monychol] whereabouts is not known, it’s only informationally where people suspect that he is in the Blue House,” Oyet said.
The arrest has sparked concerns about the growing powers of the NSS under the National Security Service Act of 2014, which was amended in 2024 to allow arrests without a warrant.
This provision has drawn criticism from international human rights organizations and press freedom advocates, who warn that it could undermine civil liberties and press freedom.
Akop’s arrest adds to a troubling trend of harassment against journalists and media professionals in South Sudan, raising alarms among both local and international observers.
When reached for comment, NSS spokesperson John David Kumuri did not respond to questions sent via WhatsApp at the time of this publication.