Police in Juba detained temporarily on Friday a South Sudanese editor working for the Arabic daily Al Watan after he hinted that the chief editor of another Arabic daily had accepted bribes from a prominent businessman.
The incident began after Al Watan columnist Omer Ishakh wrote a column accusing prominent businessman Amin Akasha of marketing expired flour in Juba. After this, Abraham Malek, the chief editor of Sout El Shaab, wrote a column defending Akasha. In turn, Omer Isakh questioned what had motivated Malek to come to the defense of the businessman.
The former implied that Malek had accepted a bribe from businessman Akasha. “Did Abraham Malek drink tea with Jasmine?” he wrote in his column on 30 November, using an idiom that refers to corruption.
Police came to the compound of the Al Watan paper and detained Ishakh on Friday saying that they had a warrant for his arrest. The writer was detained for 11 hours on Friday and released the same day.
The police acted after Abraham Malek reportedly brought a police case against Ishakh for defaming him. The editor has denied accepting a bribe from Amin Akasha.
Radio Tamazuj learnt in February this year that Akasha was importing wheat flour in large quantities, as much as 20 full container trucks. Akasha is reportedly also involved in the foreign exchange market.
File photo: Amin Akasha at a warehouse with sacks of imported flour