South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) on Monday banned a senior journalist from leaving the country, without clear reasons.
Michael Christopher, the chief editor of the local Arabic-language newspaper Al-Watan, told Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that he was removed from a Kenya Airways flight bound for Nairobi by National Security officers at Juba Airport on Monday afternoon.
Michael said the officers informed him that they were acting on orders of the highest authority, adding that his passport was also confiscated.
The South Sudanese journalist pointed out that he was due to seek medical treatment in the Kenyan capital.” I was on my way to Nairobi together with my wife. When the airplane was about to take off, the officers came and asked me to come down,” said Michael.
“The officers say they don’t know the reasons but were acting on orders of the highest authority. I will go to the National Security office to know the reasons, because it is my right to seek treatment abroad,” he added.
In March, the Media Authority, a government body charged with regulating the press, suspended Al-Watan newspaper for allegedly operating without a license.
The regulator also previously asked the editor-in-chief to apologize for covering anti-government demonstrations in Sudan, saying the protests against Omar al-Bashir were internal issues.
South Sudan ranks 139 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.