A South Sudanese whistleblower who was abducted in Kenya in June and taken across the border to South Sudan has been released after nearly two months in detention, his family said on Monday.
Athorbey Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit returned to the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Saturday and is receiving medical treatment after his health deteriorated while he was detained in Juba, according to a family statement.
Gaddhaffy-Dit, who also holds Kenyan citizenship, was seized by armed and masked men after leaving a casino on the outskirts of Nairobi in early June.
His wife later filed a police report citing witness accounts of the abduction.
Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi said in June that Gaddhaffy-Dit had told him several weeks earlier that he had shared information concerning allegations of high-level corruption in South Sudan.
The circumstances of his detention and release remain unclear.
South Sudanese government spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Officials in both Kenya and South Sudan said in June that they were unaware of Gaddhaffy-Dit’s disappearance.
South Sudan’s government has repeatedly rejected allegations that it is responsible for systematic human rights abuses and widespread corruption.
