National Security Service officers detained civil society activist and executive director of the Center for Peace and Advocacy, Ter Manyang, and his two colleagues were detained in parliament for nearly an hour because they were present during the deliberations on the NSS Bill.
They dragged Manyang and his team out of the parliament hall into another room, questioning their presence during the debate over the contentious bill.
“We told them this was a public hearing, and everybody was allowed to attend. They said that civil society organizations, journalists, and activists are not allowed to enter to attend the session according to the order,” Manyang said in a WhatsApp voice note to The Radio Community.
“We told them this is not the first time for us to come to attend such a session, and that was the discussion between us and National Security personnel within the parliament because they took us to their office within the parliament. As the Center for Peace and Advocacy, we condemn this strongly.”
The house passed the controversial bill through voting, with a majority of SPLM-IG members voting in favor of articles 54, 55, and 57, which permit the arrest by national security agents without a warrant, despite the SPLM-IO and SSOA supporting the removal of the articles, as decided by the presidency last year.
Manyang also criticized the bill's passage with the retention of powers to arrest without warrant.
“The passing of the bill was not right because they already put everything, including Sections 54 and 55, and they also moved those powers to Section 57, which is going to disturb the whole public,” Manyang added.
Journalists also chose to leave the debate in protest of the national security agents' harassment of them while they were performing their duties.
