Operatives from the South Sudan National Security Service (NSS) on Monday evening confiscated the valid Media Authority-issued accreditation cards belonging to Oyet Patrick Charles and his cameraman Samuel Adud while they filming along the Juba International Airport road.
Patrick Oyet is the China Global Television Network (CGTN) chief correspondent in South Sudan and also serves as the current president of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) while Samuel Abud is the CGTN video cameraman in South Sudan.
According to Oyet, the duo was filing a story On Monday evening for CGTN before being approached by two security officers who requested them to produce their press identity cards which were then confiscated under unclear circumstances.
“Today (Monday), I and my cameraman had a not very pleasant encounter with some security personnel,” Oyet posted on his Facebook page on Monday evening, while adding, “In the end, our valid accreditation documents from Media Authority were confiscated and we are told to report to the ‘office’ tomorrow (Tuesday). All this for filming a piece along the street in Juba.”
Under the law, the South Sudan Media Authority is mandated to handle media matters across the country, however, national security agents often harass media practitioners.