The release of Radio Bakhita FM journalist Ocen David Nicholas yesterday came after a meeting between the national security service and South Sudanese media representatives.
Members of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS) and the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) met with security officials on Tuesday to discuss Ocen’s four-day detention without charge.
Alfred Taban, the executive member of AMDISS, told Radio Tamazuj that during the meeting they demanded the release of Ocen, and national
security complied with the request.
Until then, Ocen had been held for four days with government officials saying that it would be the decision of the president Salva Kiir to release him.
National security agents loyal to Kiir picked up Ocen and other reporters from the Catholic radio station because they did not like a news report that aired views from both of the armed factions of South Sudan’s ruling party SPLM.
Kiir is the chairman of the Juba-based SPLM faction.
They continued to hold Ocen despite wide international condemnation, including from members of the Catholic Church, the United Nations, media-watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists, humanitarians, and human rights groups.
National security also kept Ocen in custody after Bakhita FM’s director submitted a letter of apology in hopes of persuading the authorities to release him.
Kiir’s government interpreted the apology as an admission of guilt, however it remains unclear what offense Ocen committed because no charges were levied against the reporter, in contravention of article 64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which proscribes a 24-hour time limit for the government to either release a detainee or bring him before a public prosecutor or magistrate.
At press time, Radio Bakhita FM remains shut down.
Photo: AMDISS executive member Alfred Taban speaks to Radio Tamazuj.
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