Nearly two months after he was snatched off the streets of Nairobi by masked gunmen, a South Sudanese whistleblower is finally free and back in Kenya.

A South Sudanese whistleblower who was abducted in Kenya in June and taken to South Sudan has been released after nearly two months in detention, his family confirmed on Monday.

Athorbey Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit arrived back in Kenya's capital Nairobi on Saturday and is now receiving medical treatment after his health deteriorated while being held in the South Sudanese capital Juba, the family said in a statement shared with cbinews.tv.

Gaddhaffy-Dit, who also holds Kenyan citizenship, was seized by armed, masked men after leaving a casino on the outskirts of Nairobi in early June, according to a report filed to police by his wife at the time that cited witness accounts.

Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi said in June that Gaddhaffy-Dit had told him back in April that he had shared information about allegations of high level corruption in South Sudan.

South Sudan's government spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny, did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by cbinews.tv. South Sudan's government has regularly dismissed accusations of systematic human rights abuses and widespread corruption.

Kenyan and South Sudanese officials had said in June they were not aware of Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit's disappearance.

This case fits a troubling pattern that has alarmed rights groups.

Kenya has increasingly been accused of acting as a hunting ground for foreign dissidents. In the past year alone, several cases of extraordinary renditions have been documented. In July last year, four Turkish nationals were abducted in Nairobi and forcibly returned to Turkey, while Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye was seized in Nairobi in November and taken to a military court in Kampala.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both warned that Nairobi is becoming a risky city for exiled activists and whistleblowers.

The allegations Gaddhaffy-Dit was said to be highlighting are not new. South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, remains one of the world's most corrupt countries according to Transparency International, ranking 174th out of 180 nations in its 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Despite being oil rich, with oil accounting for almost 90 per cent of government revenue, more than 90 per cent of its 13 million people live in poverty, according to World Bank data.

A 2021 report by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan accused the country's political elite of diverting millions of dollars of public funds.

Whistleblowers who speak out often pay a heavy price. South Sudan's National Security Service has been repeatedly accused by the UN of arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances.

For now, Gaddhaffy-Dit's family say their focus is on his recovery, but questions remain about how he was taken from Kenyan soil in the first place and who authorised it.

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