Aussie citizen Manyang Maker Tulbatortured in South Sudan - NEWS.com.au

Manyang Maker Tulba at his graduation from Perths Edith Cowan University in 2011, where he received a Bachelor of Criminology and Justice. Facebook picture Source: Supplied

Manyang Maker Tulba, 22, is one of about 100 young men being held in a military prison in Rumbek, in the country's north, as part of a state investigation into violent ethnic clashes last month.

Mr Tulba, an Australian citizen who was born in South Sudan but has lived in Perth since 2003 and was visiting his family at the time of his arrest.

A Sudanese news website reported he and his mum were arrested for having "witnessed" the clashes, which left six people dead and four wounded.

Cousin Adhel Maker said Mr Tulba's sister, who has been visiting him and his mother separately in jail, had told family members in Australia he was being tortured daily by prison guards.

"She said they sort of beat him up pretty much every day for the first two weeks of his arrest and they whipped him about 100 times a day," she said.

"You have to pay to give him food and you have to pay to buy water for him, he's not allowed to see his family, so she says she hopes the guards give him the food she brings.

"They're literally just torturing him."

Ms Maker said the family felt "hopeless". Her cousin graduated from Perth's Edith Cowan University in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in criminology and justice and was enlisted in the Army Reserve.

She said Mr Tulba had plans to get married in Rumbek and return to Perth to start a family and undertake his masters degree when he was arrested.

"I'm really worried ... about his well being and because he hasn't been in that sort of condition before, it's very different to somebody that grew up in Sudan," she said.

"He was taken away when he was a kid and he grew up half his life in Australia so it's a bit hard for him, and we wonder how much he can take."

Mr Tulba's brother Makur Maker Tulba said he was terrified his younger sibling would receive the death penalty, and said the family had so far received little help from Australian authorities.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs and Trade Department yesterday said consular officials from the Australian Embassy in Nairobi were liaising with South Sudanese authorities in order to obtain consular access to Mr Tulba.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr said Mr Tulba had been detained as part of a mass arrest, but it was not clear why.

"We have been unsuccessful in obtaining information on the reasons for his detention, from either the South Sudanese Government and from Rumbek provincial officials," the spokeswoman said.

Consulate officials had been in touch with Mr Tulba's brother, she said.