South Sudan lawmaker urges Kiir to release ‘Prophet’ Abraham Chol

JUBA – A South Sudan lawmaker in the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly in Juba has appealed to President Salva Kiir Mayardit to intervene and release detained self-claimed Prophet Abraham Chol, saying his arrest by security officers last year and the continued detention is illegal.

Chol was arrested in July 2021 after claiming the previous month that “the time of the current President H.E Salva Kiir Mayardit and his Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny and all movements who are fighting for power in South Sudan has finished and it is a time for a new president who is a young man to take over.”

He claimed that the 10th independence anniversary was going to involve two big events for the country: “a farewell to H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit and Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny and thanksgiving for their good service to the nation for the last 37 years of struggle, reception, and a welcoming of the new young president for the Republic of South Sudan.”

On 8 July 2021, a public prosecution attorney issued an arrest warrant for Chol and instructed the Northern Division of the police to apprehend and charge him for offenses under sections 201/202/66/74/7 of the South Sudan Penal Code. The quoted sections deal with subverting a constitutional government, abuse of religious beliefs, and causing disaffection among armed forces among others.

The cleric has since remained under detention without trial, motivating public callas for his release from detention.

In an open letter to President Kiir released this afternoon, David De Dau, a lawmaker representing Twic East County of Jonglei state in the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly said Prophet Abraham’s arrest and his continued detention is against the laws of the country.

“The arrest of Abraham Chol was a violation of his personal and Constitutional right as per article 19 (2) that states ‘Any person who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his or her arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him or her,’ of which this did not happen at the time of his arrest,” the lawmaker said.

The lawmaker argued that “Prophet Abraham Chol was acting within the practice of his religious right as per article 23 (d) of the constitution that states ‘the right to write, issue and disseminate religious publications.'”

He appealed to President Salva Kiir Mayardit “to reconsider the release of Prophet Abraham Chol on the fact that he was acting on his religious rights and that what was claimed on the social media and public did not happened as reported.”