Nyadol Nyuon is a lawyer and human rights advocate in Australia.

A police officer in Australia has been placed on leave following racist and insensitive social media posts directed at a South Sudanese-Australian, Nyadol Nyuon.

The officer is being investigated for insulting and asking Nyadol to return to her “shithole” country -in a reference to President Donald Trump’s infamous description of developing nations.

Nyadol is a lawyer and human rights advocate in Australia.

She is the daughter of the founding SPLA Chief of Staff, the late William Nyuon Bany.

Nyadol was recently involved in a television talk-show on racism and institutional injustices particularly in Australia and around the world.

She is a regular guest for the Australia Broadcasting Corporation’s Q+A program.

Nyadol reportedly condemned the ongoing acts of racism in America and pointed out that Australia too needs to address its system of justice that -most of the speakers said it -is against people of African descent and Aboriginal people.

There have been peaceful protests in Australia in support of Black Lives Matter protestors in the United States, after the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer.

During the TV show, Nyadol said she firmly supports the protests because the message the marches sent was more important.

“Because what they were saying is something that black children — Indigenous children — need to hear. And unfortunately, I don’t think Indigenous children and black children have heard that enough from our leaders,” Nyadol said.

A week after the program, police say Nyadol was being trolled online with racist messages by people who were not happy with her comments.

The Melbourne-based lawyer was sent several Facebook messages that read: “stop blaming white man and pulling the race card you ignorant ***”.

The post also said: “If it’s so f***ing bad here f*** off back to the war-torn shithole country you came from.”

Nyadol said she is accustomed to receiving such vile messages.

“Every time I do media I have to put aside hours to deal with the abuse. I feel sorry for some of these people,” she said.

According to the ABC, the South Australian Police spokesperson apologized for the comments and said the officer who sent the messages was no longer performing operational duties.

“The comments and views on this personal Facebook account are abhorrent and in no way representative of the values of South Australia Police,” the spokesperson said.

“A full and expedient internal investigation will be undertaken,” he added.

The officer who sent Nyadol the messages apologized publicly for his racist comments.

He read: “My differences of belief don’t excuse my hatred. I snapped. Please accept my apology for the way I acted.”

Nyadol wrote that she appreciated the apologies, but wondered why “a person in [his] position of great responsibility would hold such views and feel entitled to express them.”

She added that she “not interested in him being trolled on social media like I have been.”

Nyadol Nyuon has been an advocate of the South Sudanese community in Australia who have been portrayed highly as “troublesome.”

Between the year 2018 – 2019, many young Australian-South Sudanese were arrested and charged with home invasion and theft offences

Others were accused and charged with carjacking, aggravated burglary, robbery and vehicle crime that police say are linked to “serious offence” under the Australian laws.

In 2018, South Sudanese living in Melbourne took the streets to protest what they described as unfair treatment and racism in Australia.

The protestors carrying South Sudan’s flag and joined by sympathizers decried the generalization of the South Sudanese community as African gangs.

Nyadol is among those who believe the Australian government has failed to address the underlying causes of gang-related violence, arguing that the generalized perception is discriminatory.

NOTE: Part of this story was originally published by ABC: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-17/police-officer-investigated-for-racist-messages-to-qanda-guest/12366574