Juba Monitor editor Alfred Taban was summoned by police on Thursday after a complaint about an opinion article and spent several hours at the police station before being allowed to leave.
Michael Koma, managing editor of Juba Monitor newspaper, said he was with the chief editor at the police station from 9:00 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. to be questioned about a case opened by Joseph Ukel, the former minister of education.
The editor was allowed to go provided that he appears before court when the aggrieved person currently out of the country appears in court.
The Juba Monitor recently published an opinion article that included accusations against the minister by a former official.
“It was a summons by the police, but it is an investigation for the case that was opened by the former minister and apologized about this today,” said Koma.
He noted that the authorities involved were “police of Juba,” not National Security Service, which handles many other cases involving journalists.
Both editors confirmed that an apology was made. Koma appealed to the South Sudanese government to stop harassing media houses. “Such things could be easily solved out of court or even without any intervention of the police,” remarked.
File photo: Editor-in-Chief Alfred Taban