Concern grows for South Sudanese political pundit detained in Dubai

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JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The family of South Sudanese political commentator Samuel Peter Oyay, whose writings are often critical of the government, say they are concerned for his safety after his arrest over a month ago in the United Arab Emirates.

Oyay was taken from his home in Dubai days after publishing an article in the Netherlands-based media outlet Radio Tamazuj, a popular source of news and commentary on South Sudan.

Oyay’s wife, Vivian Johnson, told The Associated Press that she has spoken to her husband only three times since she witnessed his arrest on Sept. 30. The last call on Oct. 25 lasted less than a minute, during which her husband did not disclose his whereabouts, she said.

The family fled South Sudan’s civil war in 2013, and has lived in the UAE since 2014.

Oyay's article on Sept. 21 criticized the ongoing trial of opposition figure Riek Machar, who has been suspended from his role as South Sudan's vice president after authorities charged him with treason and other offenses. The government alleges that Machar and others from his political group incited and aided an attack on a military garrison that authorities say killed at least 250 soldiers in March.

Oyay wrote that President Salva Kiir had intentionally weakened government institutions to consolidate power and described Machar as a “captive figure in the theater of governance, humiliated publicly yet preserved as a warning to others who might imagine challenging the regime.”

Critics say Machar’s trial violates a 2018 peace accord that brought Kiir and Machar into a unity government. Several governments and regional bodies, including the African Union, have called for Machar's release or expressed concern over his detention.

Writing for the same online publication earlier in September, Oyay cited a U.N. report alleging that companies linked to Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel, a close ally of Kiir, had siphoned off more than a billion dollars in public funds earmarked for road construction.

According to Johnson, when Oyay arrived home around noon on Sept. 30, he was escorted by Emirati authorities who placed family members in a separate room and searched the home for roughly two hours. She said they confiscated a computer and two mobile phones before taking Oyay into custody.

She and others in South Sudan who spoke to the AP said that Oyay’s political criticism is the most likely reason behind his arrest.

The authorities who arrested her husband told the family they would be contacted within five days with more information, but no one has reached out, Johnson said.

Spokespeople for South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry and the domestic security service, as well as the UAE Foreign Ministry, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has been tracking Oyay's arrest. Sara Qudah, the advocacy group's Middle East and North Africa director, said the UAE “often acts as a facilitator for transnational repression,” but that past cases have typically not involved media workers.

“Oyay’s arrest is another reminder that the UAE government has little tolerance for press freedom, even for commentators who are not UAE citizens," she said last week. “Furthermore, nearly three weeks after his arrest, there is still no public information on the reasons or charges, highlighting the opaque and troubling conditions of criminal justice in the country.”

South Sudan and the UAE have grown closer in recent years as the Gulf state invested tens of billions of dollars in the region and became enmeshed in the conflict in neighboring Sudan, where it has substantial business interests.

Last month, Kiir traveled to Dubai for the third time. His office said the trip was intended to strengthen bilateral relations and investment.

Exiled critics of South Sudan’s government have sometimes faced violent repression. A U.N. investigation found that in 2017, two government critics were abducted in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, forcefully returned to South Sudan, and then killed, likely by South Sudan’s intelligence service.

Another government critic, Morris Mabior Awikjok Bak, was arrested in Nairobi in 2023, and forcibly returned to South Sudan, where he was held in detention for more than a year. Bak had sought asylum in Nairobi in 2021, after threats to his life for criticizing government officials, according to Human Rights Watch.