South Sudan ‘agrees to free jailed Kenyans’

Four Kenyan citizens who were jailed in South Sudan for allegedly defrauding the government are to be released after a deal was struck between the presidents of two countries, Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper reports.

The four started serving their sentence of 72 years in 2015.

The victims say they were caught up in a war between South Sudanese business rivals, and they were not given a fair hearing.

Their families have been running a public campaign to secure their release since their sentencing in 2015, and appealed to the UN human rights agency to assist.

There are conflicting reports on their sentence, with some media reporting that they were jailed for life while others say they were jailed for more than 60 years.