A South Sudanese lawyer says she was physically assaulted at a police station by men allegedly sent by a former state governor, amid a long-running case involving a teenage girl facing forced marriage.
Advocate Josephine Adhet Deng told Radio Tamazuj she was punched on Wednesday morning at the Northern Division Police station in the capital, Juba, by a group acting on the orders of General Manhiem Bol Malek, a former governor of Warrap State.
The alleged attack is the latest escalation in a case Ms. Adhet has been handling since 2022, which involves a girl whose family has repeatedly tried to force her into marriage.
A Timeline of Alleged Intimidation
Ms. Adhet said she was at the police station on Wednesday to answer a complaint filed against her by Gen. Manhiem Bol and others, who had accused her of kidnapping their daughter.
“After I gave my statement, explaining the girl is under the protection of the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare, the investigator informed them,” Ms. Adhet said.
“After this information, those people—about eight of them—came and stopped at the gate of the police station. Gen. Manhiem ordered them to attack me in the presence of the investigator and other police officers.”
She said she was punched and has since opened a separate case about the assault and sought hospital treatment. “The tension was very high yesterday,” she added.
The lawyer said the girl escaped again from the family house in Juba after being taken from Mauna police station, and then reported to the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare.
Background: A Fight Over Education and Marriage
The case began in 2022 when the girl, then 14 and in primary school, fled to Ms. Adhet’s office. She said her father in the village had arranged a marriage for her in Tonj East and that she wanted to continue her education instead.
Ms. Adhet filed a case, leading to the arrest of the girl’s father. A meeting was convened at the police station on 12 October 2022, attended by her uncle Gen. Manhiem Bol and another uncle, MP Jok Dut Malek.
An agreement was signed stipulating the marriage would be halted, the girl would be allowed to study until at least the age of 25, and Ms. Adhet would act as her guardian.
The girl progressed to secondary school, but in 2025, she reported new pressure to marry. Ms. Adhet said the girl told her of two new suitors: one a student in Cairo offering 141 cows and a car, and another, a businessman in Juba with ties to her uncles, offering 150 cows and a car.
The girl’s father reportedly preferred the suitor in Cairo who was first chosen by the father, but her uncles allegedly favoured the Juba businessman.
School Raid and Police Station Removal
The situation escalated in November 2025 when, Ms. Adhet alleges, Gen. Manhiem Bol, MP Jok, and their associates forcefully entered the girl’s boarding school, Darling Wisdom Secondary School, to take her home for marriage after she escaped from the family home in Juba.
When students helped the girl escape to a nearby police station, the men allegedly took three teachers with them to Sector 4.
“After they confirmed the girl was at Mauna police station, they released the teachers and came to the police station and took the girl by force from the station. But the girl escaped recently from the house and went to the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare,” Ms. Adhet said.
Captain Ngor Majok, an officer at Mauna police station, confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that the girl had come to the station after disagreeing with her family over marriage.
“When the uncles learned the young girl had come to the police station here, we met them and advised them to go and meet as a family over the issue because there was no case opened with us and there was no accused person,” he said.
He confirmed the girl later left the police station with her uncles.
Official Response and Denials
Charity Denis, in charge of child protection at the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare, confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that the case was with them and that Ms. Adhet was “having issues with the girl’s family.”
“The ministry is studying the case so that the issue can be handled,” she said, adding the girl had been doing well in school until the marriage issue resurfaced.
When contacted, the girl’s uncle, MP Jok Dut Malek, denied any knowledge of the girl’s marriage case.
Gen. Manhiem Bol Malek could not be immediately reached for comment.
Legal Context
South Sudan’s Transitional Constitution guarantees the right to free consent to marriage.
However, enforcement remains a significant challenge, with customary laws and societal norms often taking precedence.
Ms. Adhet says she remains determined to continue the case despite the alleged attack.
“The girl came to seek help and told me, ‘I don’t want the man chosen by my family for marriage because I want to finish my education. Under pressure, she also chose the man selected by her father, who is now a student in Cairo, while her uncles want her to marry the man who is in Juba,’” she said. “That is what we are fighting for.”