NSS releases Sudd Institute researchers hours after arrest

JUBA – South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) has released staff members of the Sudan Institute who were arrested this morning following the shutdown of the think-tank’s offices in the capital Juba.

Jok Madut Jok, one of the founders of the independent research institution said early this afternoon that a group of national security officers came to the premise of the Sudd Institute and arrested the managing director as well as other staffers.

In an update, Jok said the national security service has released their staff after hours-long interrogation, but the intelligence agency hasn’t yet reopened the institute’s offices.

“Good news, our colleagues from the Sudd Institute have been released. But the bad news is that the Institute remains closed,” Jok said.