Two officials at the Upper Nile State health ministry have been set free after spending about three weeks in police custody and later prison in Malakal town.
Joseph Kuol, the ministry’s head for administration and finance, and his colleague, Piot Aben, who heads the human resource department were arrested 19 January for allegedly rejecting a newly deployed director-general at the state health ministry.
Piot Aben told Radio Tamazuj that they were released a week ago without charges.
“We were transferred from the police to Malakal Central Prison where we spent 19 days because we refused to hand over our official stamps to the public prosecution attorney,” Aben said. “About a week ago, they released us without charges.”
He pointed out that they are awaiting a court summon.
“We are still health officials. We cannot hand over our stamps to the police or the attorney. So, we want them to forward the case to the court so that we are tried and hand over the stamps there but there is no sign of that till now,” he added.
For his part, Chagai Lual, the Malakal municipality health director, welcomed the release of the duo and said health workers have since resumed operations in the town.
Late last month, health workers in Malakal downed their tools to protest the prolonged detention of their colleagues.