Six journalists in South Sudan were detained on Wednesday for sharing a video that showed the country’s president, Salva Kiir, urinating on himself.
The video, which was circulated on social media, caused widespread outrage in the country and sparked calls for the president’s resignation.
As the 71-year-old stood for the national anthem at a road commissioning event in December, video footage revealed a brown stain running down his grey pants.
According to sources close to the journalists, they were arrested for “knowing how the video of the president urinating on himself came out.”
According to Patrick Oyet, the head of the South Sudan Union of Journalists, the journalists who were arrested worked for the government-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation.
According to Mr. Oyet, the journalists who have been arrested include camera operators Joseph Oliver and Mustafa Osman, video editor Victor Lado, contributor Jacob Benjamin, and control room employees Cherbek Ruben and Joval Toombe.
He continued, “We are concerned because those who are currently detained have stayed longer than the law says.”
According to Sudanese law, officials are only permitted to detain suspects for 24 hours before putting them before a court.
The arrests, according to Muthoki Mumo, a spokesperson for the Committee to Protect Journalists, “match a pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavorable.”
The six SSBC employees should be unconditionally released by the authorities, and they should make sure they may continue working without being threatened with detention or feeling intimidated.
According to South Sudan’s Minister of Information Michael Makuei, the public should hold off on learning the reason behind the journalists’ detention.
The detention of these six journalists has sparked widespread condemnation and calls for their immediate release.
Press freedom organizations and human rights groups are urging the South Sudanese government to respect the rights of the media and allow journalists to report freely and without fear of reprisal.
However, there was a fake report previously about a journalist who committed suicide in the country for releasing the said video. MandyNews.com fact-checked it and found out it was false.
With the election of Mr. Kiir as its first president in 2011, the nation is the youngest in Africa.
Ever since then, South Sudan has seen a number of problems, including political unrest, calamities, and starvation.
The journalists are currently being held in a detention center and it is unclear when they will be released.
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Source: MandyNews.com
