Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

A female inmate peers out through the grills of a metallic prison gate at Juba's central prison in South Sudan.

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

An inmate standd astride an open waste water gulley with shackles around his ankles at the prison yard of Rumbek's central prison in South Sudan.

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Prison wardens carry out an inspection of the kitchens at Juba's central prison in South Sudan.

GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.

In Juba, the ramshackle capital of South Sudan, the world's newest nation, over 100 people await execution in filthy and crowded prisons. Human rights activists say conditions break basic freedoms, with many inmates never having even seen a lawyer, or even knowing their charges.

In June, Human Rights Watch issued a report that found that prisoners in South Sudan were often detained arbitrarily, often not charged with crimes and frequently not provided with lawyers for their defense. The report said some prisoners were detained for up to five years without trial. Continue reading AP article.

Impoverished South Sudan was left in ruins after decades of war with Sudan before separating in 2011 after a landslide independence referendum. But like so much in the country, the legal system was left in tatters, with sometimes conflicting, overlapping systems of justice.

All images captured Oct. 23-26 by AFP - Getty Images photographer Tony Karumba, but made available to NBC News today. 

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates get ready to dish out food to other prisoners for their evening meal at Rumbek's central prison in South Sudan

Tony Karumba / AFP - Getty Images

Inmates, who are shackled together at the ankles, bathe at a water point at Rumbek's central prison in South Sudan.

- / AFP - Getty Images

A mentally ill inmate at Juba's central prison in South Sudan is locked-up in solitary confinement.

• Read UN's program for South Sudan
• Follow @NBCNewsPictures on Twitter

Following decades of civil war, Southern Sudan is set to declare independence from the north on July 9. The Republic of South Sudan, as it will be named on Saturday, will be the world's 193rd country, the AP reported. In the southern capital, Juba, rehearsals for the independence ceremony are at an advanced stage. Let's just hope it doesn't rain on Saturday...

Pete Muller / AP

Boys take shelter from afternoon rains that disrupted a rehearsal for independence day celebrations in Juba, southern Sudan, on July 4.

Pete Muller / AP

Boys take shelter from afternoon rains in Juba on July 4. The mural behind the boys depicts a map of the united Sudan.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A musician practises before the start of a rehearsal of the independence day ceremony in Juba on July 5.

Pete Muller / AP

Members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army stand at attention, during a rehearsal for independence day in the southern capital of Juba on July 5.

Pete Muller / AP

Children rehearse for independence day celebrations in Juba on July 4.

Marc Hofer / AFP - Getty Images

Vehicles drive along a road leading out of South Sudan's new capital Juba on July 41. The world's newest capital is a war-damaged city of tin-shack housing and bumpy roads, strung out along the steamy banks of the White Nile River.

A Reuters report on Monday described Juba as "lawless and chaotic, but buoyant with optimism about its future":

There are few buildings higher than two stories in the sprawling city, clearly expanding as hundreds of thousands of southerners flock back from the north and abroad.

Many hotels use tents or pre-fabs instead of investing in permanent structures. Inhabitants call it the "world's biggest village" -- some affectionately, others derisively.

Construction work is uncontrolled. Huge, unmarked holes are dug and left for days on central streets.

Government meetings are often interrupted by electricity blackouts. Unreliable diesel generators power the city in the absence of any national grid. Many southern officials have two or three phone numbers because of unreliable mobile networks.

See more images from Sudan - north and south - on PhotoBlog.