Chairman of the Democratic Change Party Lam Akol says that the National Security Service unjustly arrested journalist Joseph Afendi and has violated its own legal mandate by illegally arresting people including journalists.

Lam Akol was speaking on Saturday at a prayer event organised by Afendi’s family to celebrate his release from National Security custody after being held for a month and half without being charged with any crime.

According to Lam Akol, the fight to release Afendi was a battle against injusice, saying the fight was won.

He also took the opportunity to criticize the Media Authority for including a representative of the National Security Service on its board, asking what the security is going to give to journalists and the media.

Akol pointed out that the responsibility of the National Security Service as stipulated in the constitution is to collect information and analyze it – not arrest people. NSS has no legal powers of arrest.

Meanwhile, Edmund Yakani, the executive director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) said the arrest of Afendi was illegal and arbitrary because it was done by illegal means without any criminal case being opened against him.