A civil society organization is calling for the release of Juba Monitor Editor-in-chief Alfred Taban on health and humanitarian grounds after his arrest Saturday for calling for the removal of South Sudan’s president and first vice president.
“Community Empowerment for Progress Organization with due respect and honor to the leadership of our country is urging the authorities on health and humanitarian ground to release Alfred Taban. The health condition of Alfred Taban is critical,” the group said in a statement.
“Detention may affect his health. Forgiving Alfred Taban will be great and remarkable action if our state authorities did,” added the organization.
“Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of CEPO says we are pleading to our President His Excellency Salva Kiir to forgive Alfred Taban on his health condition. The Alfred Taban has contributed a lot during our struggle for independence through his journalism role. Whatever mistake he did now, kindly he should be forgiven for it.”
Taban wrote a column Friday in which he criticized Salva Kiir and Riek Machar for being either unwilling or unable to control their troops and for failing to announce a ceasefire in Juba until after hundreds of people were killed in fighting over four or five days last week.
File photo: Alfred Taban
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South Sudanese editor arrested after calling on Kiir & Machar to step down