Release Yar Ayuen or take her to a court for trial, family and activists demanded Wednesday, decrying her prolonged detention by the police.
On Monday, the police in the Jonglei State capital, Bor town, arrested Yar, a young woman, following an encounter with Ajak Ayuen Mach, an army general heading a joint operation unit, tasked with cracking down on gang members and those the authorities deemed to be wearing indecent clothes.
Last week, Yar was allegedly harassed, intimidated, and forced to undress by security personnel for dressing indecently. She was then summoned over the weekend.
According to Bor police, Yar is being charged with defaming Gen. Ayuen.
“As we speak, I am at the police station. I am here with my wife in the prison. She has been in detention for the last three days,” Kon John, Yar’s husband, told Radio Tamazuj this afternoon.
He called on the police to set his wife free or arraign her before a court.
“As a family, we want the issue to be solved amicably by the community, or else they should take to the court than being detained,” he said.
The state police spokesperson, Major Majak Daniel Tuor, said the defendant will be arraigned before a court when investigations are completed.
“Investigations are still ongoing. As soon as we are done, we will forward the case before the attorney who will then decide to take the case to the court or not,” he said. “Yar was rearrested on defamation charges using an arrest warrant produced by Gen. Ajak.”
He added, “Gen. Ajak is a well-respected hero. He came to Bor to head the operation after the community invited him. As a community, we have a dressing code that conforms to our culture and everyone should respect it.”
For his part, Ter Manyang, an activist with the civil society organization Centre for Peace and Advocacy, said Yar’s prolonged detention is illegal.
“This is a violation of rights. In South Sudan, we have customary laws but they don’t dictate what a woman should wear. Again, Yar was not indecently dressed so should never have been targeted for being a woman.”
Meanwhile, Malaak Ayuen, the Bor County paramount chief, said: “As we speak, the case is not under my jurisdiction. It was last week that the traditional chiefs from Yar Ayuen’s community were in my office and it was like they had agreed to settle the issue.”