A veteran journalist working with 98.0 FM Radio Station in the Lakes State capital, Rumbek, was beaten up and had his phone stolen by gang members masquerading as National Security Service (NSS) personnel in the town’s Maborngap suburb on Sunday night.
Yang Ater Yang told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that he suffered injuries to his shoulder and neck and is momentarily receiving medical treatment at Rumbek State Hospital.
“On Sunday night, after leaving my workplace to go home, I found a group of youths standing on the roadside. Two of them blocked and stopped me, and said they were security operatives and wanted to check if I had a panga or a knife,” he explained. “They shone a bright light in my face and checked me. They took my phone, and when I resisted, they beat me up and ran away.”
“I thank God because I survived being killed and I am now receiving treatment,” Ater added.
Meanwhile, Daniel Laat Kon, a civil society activist in Lakes State, condemned the attack on the journalist, who he said was going to his uncle’s house in the Maborngap residential area in Rumbek Town.
“The journalist met with unknown people who he thought were primary eight candidates preparing for exams and looking for a place with light to read,” he said. “However, the thugs told him to sit down and said they were security agents. That is how Ater was attacked, and his phone was taken by force.”
“We see this incident as a threat to the media because if journalists are being targeted, then their lives are at risk, Laat added.
He urged the government to investigate the incident.
“If the perpetrators are not brought to book, they will get emboldened, and these incidents will increase, and other journalists can be attacked, and more people can also be looted and attacked at night,” Laat said. “It is the responsibility of the state to make sure that such people are apprehended and brought to book.”