HRW calls for the release of a South Sudanese critic detained in UAE

A South Sudanese government critic has been detained in the United Arab Emirates for a year without charge, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday, calling for his release.

After fleeing his country for security reasons in 2014, Samuel Peter Oyay settled in the UAE, where he ran a business and regularly wrote articles denouncing corruption within the South Sudanese government, according to the organisation.

He was arrested in September 2025 by plainclothes officers, but the reason has never been communicated to his family. They have only been allowed to visit him in prison once since then, HRW said in a statement.

Emirati authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.

"The UAE government's zero-tolerance policy toward peaceful criticism is increasingly targeting critics of Abu Dhabi's foreign allies who live in the UAE," HRW researcher Joey Shea said in the statement, as she called for Oyay's immediate release.

The Gulf state has in recent years strengthened its ties with South Sudan, whose president, Salva Kiir, it hosted three times in 2025, according to HRW.

After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan quickly descended into a five-year civil war that left more than 400,000 people dead and four million displaced, and it remains one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world.

The world's youngest country is gearing up for its first-ever elections on 22 December, despite the government failing to implement almost any of the conditions set out under a 2018 peace agreement, including a constitution or the registration of voters.

A United Nations report last year found that South Sudan's leaders had siphoned off billions of dollars in oil revenue while leaving practically nothing for public services.

Tensions remain high between rival political groups, with opposition leader Riek Machar currently jailed on treason charges. International observers now fear the election could tip the country back into full-blown conflict.