Morris Mabior Awijok, a South Sudanese asylum-seeker, went missing on February 4, 2023 after he was allegedly arbitrarily arrested in Nairobi.

A relative told Human Rights Watch that armed men, reportedly wearing Kenyan police uniforms, abducted Mabior from his Chokaa home and beat up his wife.

Two days later, a local South Sudanese newspaper, The Dawn, reported that Mabior had been “extradited to juba to face charges of abusing government officials”.

Mobior’s arbitrary arrest proceeded from a memo by South Sudanese National Police Service to Interpol on May 23, 2022, indicating that he was wanted in criminal case No. 5445/2021 lodged at Northern Police Division- Juba, Charged under Sections 289/113/291 of SSPCA – 2008 for defamation and furnishing false information.

‘Not us!’

But in a twist of events, the Kenyan Government is denying any involvement in the matter.

The Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) sued the Governments of Kenya and South Sudan on Mabior’s arrest at the East African Court of Justice, citing it as an illegality.

In his response, Kenya’s Attorney General — through state counsel Wanjiku Mwangi — argues that Mabior has never been a person of interest by the police.

The IG further says that Mabior has never been arrested or investigated by the Kenyan police.

An affidavit says that a chief inspector named Ruto, who is alleged to have led the team that arrested the activist on allegations of terrorism, is not an officer with the Kenya Anti-Terror Police Unit.

“That at no point did the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit have any reason to be involved with the subject as he was not under any investigations or a person of interest for the unit or Kenyan Government,” reads the affidavit.

Where is Morris Mabior?

PALU wants the two governments to be compelled to disclose the whereabouts of Mabior.

A former state officer and open critic of the South Sudanese Internal Security Bureau Director General, Mabiro fled South Sudan and sought refuge in Kenya in April 2021.

The father of 22 children had reportedly received threats from officials and leaders from his home area of Tonj, Warrap State.

In Kenya, Mabior was a refugee registered with the Department of Refugee Affairs.

Being a party to the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention and The 1969 OAU Refugee Convention, Kenya is obligated to upholding the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.