A police officer in South Sudan capital’s Juba has threatened the chief editor of Beitna newspaper over a story regarding policemen who stormed Gudele police post to release a detained colleague.
Editor David John told Radio Tamazuj that his paper reported that a 777 emergency response police unit stormed the Gudele police post in an attempt to release a colleague who was detained since 27 November. The detainee was reportedly held in custody on suspicion of indiscriminately firing his gun.
David said a 777 police officer threatened him after requesting he apologize for the story.
“I have refused to apologize because the story is correct, so he was irritated,” David said. “He said, ok, if is like that we are still around in Juba, so this is threat, it should be taken seriously,” the editor said.
David added that the newspaper’s management is following some procedures with regard to the threat but gave no further details.
Beitna, which means ‘our house’ or ‘our home,’ is a Juba-based paper covering social activities and crime.
The 777 police are an emergency response group of the national police in Juba trained by the United Nations Development Programme in conjunction with the UN Mission in South Sudan and supported by donations from the Japanese government.