The health of a Christian pastor detained by South Sudan's National Security Service has been declining owing to bad treatment by the security service, according to a human rights group.

Amnesty International, which has been advocating for the release or trial of 33 men held without charge at the National Security Service (NSS) headquarters in the Jebel neighbourhood of Juba, says that Christopher Gwagbwe, an Episcopal priest in his sixties affiliated with the Charismatic Episcopal Church, has been denied his legal rights.

“His health is deteriorating in poor conditions of detention and he has been denied family visits since November 2015,” Amnesty International reported today.

Gwagbwe was arrested in September 2014 at his home in Juba. “He has high blood pressure. The conditions of detention are poor, including a lack of adequate ventilation and poor diet, and his health has been deteriorating,” Amnesty added in an email to journalists and supporters.

The NSS has neither charged Christopher Gwagbwe with any offense nor presented him in court. Though family members were initially allowed to visit him, since November 2015 NSS officers have repeatedly denied him family visits, according to the rights group.

Another prisoner detained by the National Security without charge in Juba since December, Western Equatoria Governor Joseph Bakosoro, was released recently after complaints of his poor health. Following his release, Bakosoro called on President Kiir to release other political prisoners.

File photo: NSS headquarters