Six journalists in South Sudan have been arrested by the
national security service over the circulation of a viral video appearing to
show President Salva Kiir wetting himself.
In December, a video showing
Kiir urinating on himself as the national anthem played at a function
was shared on social media.
The circulation of the video led to the arrest of the
journalists.
Patrick Oyet, president of the South Sudan Union of
Journalists, told Reuters that the reporters were “suspected of having knowledge
on how the video of the president urinating himself came out”.
Oyet said the detained journalists are Joseph Oliver and
Mustafa Osman (camera operators), Victor Lado (video editor); Jacob Benjamin (contributor); and Cherbek
Ruben and Joval Toombe from the control room.
Meanwhile, the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC)
where the journalists work said the footage was never aired.
Also, on Friday, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a
media rights group, made a call for the journalists’ release, adding that the
six staff from the state broadcaster were detained during the week.
Muthoki Mumo, CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, also
called for the unconditional release of the journalists.
According to Mumo, the arrest was “a pattern of security
personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage
unfavourable”.
However, Michael
Makue, South Sudan’s information minister, said people would have to wait to
know why the journalists were detained.
The rights groups have frequently called on the South
Sudanese authorities to stop harassing and threatening journalists.
Since the outbreak of violence in 2013, the country’s media
environment has been described by civil society groups as a “dangerous” terrain
for journalists.
Some journalists in South Sudan were said to have abandoned
their profession; many others have reportedly fled the country.
In 2017, South Sudan deported three American journalists
over “visa issues”.
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