Authorities in South Sudan have arrested six journalists from the state-run television network in connection with a video considered insulting to the country’s president, Salva kiir.
The video, which went viral on social media, shows Kiir urinating in his pants during a December event in the capital, Juba. The images sparked a debate about the president’s health.
A journalist from the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) told Radio Tamazuj that five of his colleagues were arrested on Tuesday at the station’s headquarters, while a sixth was detained in Western Equatoria state.
Among those arrested are the director of the station’s control room, Joval Tombe, a content editor and several cameramen and technicians who were reportedly present during the event and recorded the images.
Official sources from the South Sudanese Ministry of Information confirmed the arrests but downplayed the matter by assuring that the journalists were assisting in the investigations. «It is true that some of our colleagues were transferred, but they are not under arrest,» they said.
«Security has pointed out that the video posted on social media happens to be from SSBC, even though SSBC did not issue any news related to that video,» they said, before assuring that the journalists would be released soon.
South Sudan has a unity government that was set in motion after the materialization of the 2018 peace agreement between Kiir and the hitherto rebel leader Riek Machar who returned to the post of first vice-president of the African country as a result of the agreement.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
