The editor of a daily English newspaper in South Sudan’s capital Juba says that the government has no right to threaten journalists and treat them like criminals. He says that the government should challenge them in court if it has any problem.
Nhial Bol Aken, the chief editor of the Citizen newspaper, said that journalism issues are “civil matters,” not criminal ones, meaning that journalists should not be detained as if they were criminals.
He was speaking to Sudan Tribune online daily after the detention of Radio Bakhita journalists on Saturday.
Sudan Tribune reported that the editor also said the government should have gone to court instead of using security personnel to intimidate and harass journalists.
“Issues to do with journalism are always treated as civil matters and are handled under civil law in any country. If the government feels it has issue with any particular media house, the best way to do it is going to court instead of ordering arrest of the journalists and the closure.”
‘Government crosses red line’
Sudan Tribune reports, “Anger is building up amongst South Sudanese media industry over the frequency of arrest targeting independent journalists by the government agents.”
A South Sudanese journalist quoted by the online daily says that the government has “crossed a red line.”
“I think our people should come out to tell the government that it has crossed the red line of basic rights… They should be told they are wrong and they need to stop.”
Meanwhile, a member of the Catholic radio station closed down on Saturday said that the reason for the closure was “because we covered both sides” in reporting on the current conflict in the country.
The church radio station is the latest to be targeted by the National Security Service, which has raided all major independent media houses in the South Sudanese capital Juba since December 2013.
It is also the third Christian radio station to be threatened within the last month. Evangelical stations in Yei River County and Aweil East County were both threatened in July.
Tensions between the media and national authorities have been high since before the start of the current conflict.
Last year in early December, two newspapers threatened to shut down rather than comply with orders to participate in an accreditation process that would have given the government the power to determine who was and was not allowed to work as a journalist.
Besides the two newspapers Al Masier and The Citizen, other media considered joining the planned blackout protest, which was called off because the government backed down on its demand that all journalists carry government-issued ID cards.
File photo
Related:
South Sudan official shuts down Catholic radio station (16 Aug.)
Document: South Sudan govt seeks to silence famine warnings (5 Aug.)