SPLM-IO says official arrested during Machar’s court hearing in Juba

JUBA – South Sudan’s main opposition group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by First Vice President Riek Machar, said on Wednesday that one of its members was arrested by security agents during a court session for Machar and several of his allies in Juba.

Gattiek Gatkuoth Wichar, the SPLM-IO Youth League spokesman, told Sudans Post that Alfred Gatmai, the party’s information secretary for Mayom County caucus in Juba, was detained by officers from the National Security Service (NSS) after leaving a courtroom at Freedom Hall.

“The Information Secretary for Mayom County’s SPLM (IO) Caucus Cde. Alfred Gatmai Koang has been arrested today, October 8, 2025, in Freedom Hall by the security operatives of National Security Service after returning from washroom,” Wichar said in a statement.

“Cde. Alfred Gatmai Koang didn’t commit any crime but went to the Freedom Hall like anyone else to attend the eighth court session of the First Vice President H. E. Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon and his Seven (7) co-accused, but unfortunately he was handcuffed and drawn to unknown location,” he added.

Wichar accused the security agency of overstepping its constitutional mandate and targeting members of the opposition.

“The National Security Service has left its constitutional mandate and opts for systematic targeting of dissenting voices, hunting many vocal youth leaders in the SPLM (IO) party as an attempt to silence them through arbitrarily arrest and intimidation,” he said.

“On behalf of the SPLM (IO) National Youth League, I condemn in the strongest terms possible the unlawful and illegal kidnapping of comrade Alfred Gatmai and demands his unconditional release,” he added.

The NSS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Machar and seven senior SPLM-IO officials are currently on trial before a special court established to investigate violence that erupted in March 2025 in Nasir County, Upper Nile State between the White Army, an ethnic Nuer militia that fought alongside the SPLA-IO during the 2013-2018 civil war, and the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF).

Authorities have accused Machar of inciting violence and plotting to overthrow the government. Charges include terrorism, crimes against humanity, and attempts to remove the government unconstitutionally.