Reverend James Dut of the Episcopal Church was taken into the custody of the National Security Service in Wanyjok town of Northern Bahr al Ghazal yesterday.

“We don’t know why he was called,” said a source in Wanyjok.

“But I think it could be related to the remarks he made at a prayer services in Panapuoth area, where he called on God to relieve the people of Mading Aweil from the bondage of constant fear and threats emanating from questioning the value of the rule of guns and who owns the Mading Aweil for people to keep adoring the behaviour of a brute and uncaring man.”

“I think some people have misinterpreted and they rushed his preaching to the security,” the source said Wednesday. “They think it was a preaching against certain people,” he said.

Meanwhile, other sources in the state reported a crackdown on political dissent and pointed to new security checkpoints along routes leading to the state capital and fresh arrests reported inside military barracks in the state.

Related:

Pastor abducted by gunmen in Morobo, Central Equatoria (30 Oct.)

Timeline: Violence against churches in South Sudan (29 Aug.)