Since the start in December 2013 of an internal armed conflict between the Government of South Sudan and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army-In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO), the National Security Service (NSS) has arbitrarily detained perceived government opponents, sometimes for over a year. NSS detainees are not charged by prosecutors, and they do not appear before magistrates for judicial review of the lawfulness of their continued detention. Detainees are, in effect, denied any protection of the law.
