Slidell man detained in South Sudan to appear in court - News Banner

A Slidell man who suffered a mild heart attack while detained in South Sudanese prison is now out of jail on bond and will appear in court tomorrow, his wife says.

Elton Mark McCabe, 52, was released on bail Nov. 1, weeks after he was arrested by South Sudan National Security Service Oct. 14, for allegedly being in connection with the kidnapping of an Indian businessman. He was immediately detained again following posting bail. According to McCabe’s wife Anne McCabe, no charges have come about and prosecutors claimed they needed more time to make a case when the matter went before the court in South Sudan on Thanksgiving Day.

“Any normal court in civil society would have had this case thrown out from day one,” Anne McCabe said.

“We should have an answer by Thursday,” she said Monday night.

Mark McCabe traveled to the Republic of South Sudan in August in hopes of finding business opportunities, his wife has said. He and a friend were working to start an Internet company but something went awry and South Sudan security forces apprehended Mark McCabe for reason that still are not clear.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has been very vocal regarding the matter and has asked for Mark McCabe’s release on humanitarian grounds. He, along with others, have questioned the lack of evidence against Mark McCabe and has on several occasions asked South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his administration to follow international judicial laws.

According to Anne McCabe, her husband sought work overseas following a massive heart attack in December of last year and after he couldn’t find work locally. While in Juba Central Prison last week, Mark McCabe suffered a mild heart attack, accelerating the concerns of his family and public officials.

In a letter to Kiir, Vitter urged the South Sudan government to allow Mark McCabe to be evacuated to Nairobi, Kenya, in order for the man to see a cardiologist, which had been requested by a doctor in Juba, South Sudan.

It isn’t clear what has happened since the incident, but what is clear is Mark McCabe’s health continues to decline the longer he is kept away from home.

“There’s no reason for this. That’s the point we need to drive home,” Anne McCabe said last week. “And now they’ve endangered his life to where he’s had a mild heart attack.”

Meanwhile, Vitter continues to urge the South Sudan government “to do the right thing.”

“Flawed legal proceedings, especially in countries where we send humanitarian and security aid, should not be tolerated,” Vitter said in his recent letter to Kiir. “With the recent decline to Mark’s health, now more than ever is this an opportunity for South Sudan to do the right thing and release him on humanitarian grounds to the United States.”

Mark McCabe is scheduled to appear in court again tomorrow after a judge delivered the prosecution an extension on proceedings. Anne McCabe says she hopes the case will be thrown out and her husband will be allowed to come home.