Old photo of prisoner in South Sudan does not show Riek Machar’s bodyguard
- Published on September 23, 2025 at 16:42
- 6 min read
- By Peris GACHAHI, AFP Kenya
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“TORTURE AND SLOW EXECUTION OF FVP’S DETAINED PROTECTION OFFICERS IN DETENTION BY SSPDF,” reads the heading of a message published on Facebook on September 18, 2025.
“This morning, the SPLA-IO command learned with profound shock the death of patriot Cpt. Luka Gathok Nyuon at Jamus military detention in Juba where he and other protection officers of the FVP are unjustly arrested, detained, tortured and left for death,” it begins.
The statement alleges that Luka and other “gravely ill officers” were denied medical aid and that medicines were deliberately discarded by SSPDF personnel, and condemned the “inhumane and unprofessional treatment of prisoners of war,” calling it a violation of international human rights and humanitarian law.
“Below is a photo of Cpt. Luka in detention before his death compare to his photo before his illegal arrest. May his soul RIP. The struggle continues (sic),” the statement concludes.
The statement was published on the Facebook account of Machar-allied Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) spokesperson Lam Paul Gabriel.
The post includes an image of a man lying shackled on the floor of a dimly lit, dilapidated cell and another of two men posing side-by-side, one of them purportedly the bodyguard while he was alive.
Similar claims were published elsewhere on Facebook and X.
Machar-Kiir rivalry
South Sudan’s politics have long been defined by the rivalry between President Salva Kiir and Machar. Once allies in the country’s liberation struggle, they split in 2013, sparking a civil war fought largely along ethnic lines, with Machar backed by the Nuer community and Kiir by the Dinka (archived here).
Kiir retained control of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), later renamed the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), while Machar led the breakaway Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO).
Peace deals briefly restored cooperation between the two leaders, with Machar returning as vice president in 2016 and again in 2020 under a revitalised accord (archived here).
The truce unravelled in March 2025 when Kiir’s forces detained members of Machar’s security team and his allies and placed him under house arrest, following an attack on a military base that the government linked to Machar’s loyalists (archived here).
On September 11, 2025, Machar was charged with murder, treason and crimes against humanity, and suspended from office (archived here).
However, the image circulating online purportedly showing one of Machar’s bodyguards before his alleged death in detention is misleading.
Old, unrelated image
AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches on the photo and found that it is over a decade old.
The photo appears on Getty Images with the description: “A prisoner in Rumbek central prison with a padlocked chains around his ankles, is seen, in Rumbek, in Southern Sudan, on November 14, 2011” (archived here).
The photo is attributed to AFP photographer Tony Karumba.
The 2011 photo showing the unidentified prisoner is also available in the AFP archives.
The caption described the unidentified prisoner, photographed on November 14, 2011, as suffering from mental illness and held in solitary confinement at Rumbek central prison.
Meanwhile, keyword searches led to an article by Radio Tamazuj, an independent news service covering South Sudan, reporting that a bodyguard of Machar’s allegedly died on September 18, 2025 (archived here).
“Machar’s bodyguard dies in military detention in Juba,” the headline reads.
According to the report, the bodyguard was identified as Nyuon, a native of Mayom county and one of the people detained after Machar’s house arrest. It added that the “family had not been allowed to visit Nyuon” and are now urging “authorities to release the body for burial and to launch an independent investigation into the circumstances of his death”.
The AFP image was used illustratively in the article, with the caption correctly describing it as being taken in 2011.
A day later, on September 19, Machar’s press secretary Puok Both Baluang published a statement by the acting SPLM/A-IO chairperson Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, addressing the condition of its “Political Detainees” (archived here).
“We have learned with profound sorrow the death of Captain Luka Gathok Nyuon…who passed away yesterday morning at 7:00 AM CAT at the Tiger Division facility in Juba,” the statement reads. “Capt. Luka’s death is attributed to the abject condition exacerbated by the systematic denial of medical care by the government in Juba.”
The SPLM/A-IO alleged that more than 100 of its officials and officers are being “unlawfully detained” in Juba “under very harsh conditions including torture, starvation and denial of medical care,” with at least 10 in critical condition and 82 of Machar’s security personnel still in custody.
In response, Kiir-allied SSPDF spokesperson Lul Ruai Koang said they would not immediately issue a “counter statement on alleged death in detention facility of SPLA-IO officer, Cpt. Luka Gathok Nyuon” (archived here).
“Members of the public will be updated once,more credible information has been gathered (sic),” he added.
On September 20, 2025, the SPLA-IO spokesperson who first shared the image issued an apology, clarifying that the photo does “not belong to our fallen comrade” (archived here).
“On behalf of the SPLA-IO Media unit and on my own behalf as the Official Spokesperson of SPLA-IO I honestly accept our mistakes and take full responsibility to apologize for this grave professional mistake and hope to improve on this incident to ensure delivering genuine information to all our readers in the future (sic),” the post reads.
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