Juba - South Sudanese President Salva Kiir released 30
political prisoners, after months of pressure by human rights
activists, presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said Friday.
The prisoners, who had been detained without trial, many of them for
several years, had been released on Thursday as part of a
presidential amnesty with the aim of "enhancing national dialogue" in
the volatile East African nation, the spokesman said.
Among the released detainees is James Gatdet Dak, the former
spokesman of rebel leader Riek Machar, the president's biggest
political rival, according to Ateny.
The amnesty was granted after various human rights groups repeatedly
urged Kiir to free political prisoners.
Kiir's security services and army have conducted arbitrary arrests
and prolonged detentions of perceived government opponents, according
to Amnesty International.
Detainees have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment,
according to the human rights group.
South Sudan has been in the grip of a military conflict since a split
between Kiir and Machar escalated in December 2013.
Tens of thousands have been killed and 3.5 million displaced in what
is now the world's third-biggest refugee crisis after Syria and
Afghanistan, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).