Gov’t should forgive, release detained journalists, Yakani says

JUBA, FEBRUARY 18^th 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan’s prominent civil society activist Edmund Yakani has welcomed the release of a number of journalists from the National Security Service detention and called on the government to forgive and release the rest who are still in the spy agency’s custody.

In January, six journalists working for the state-own South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) were arrested by the National Security Service (NSS) after a footage of President Salva Kiir Mayardit – in which he was seen wetting on himself in public – went viral.

The National Security Service in late January arrested yet again another journalist working for the state-own television channel in relation to the circulation of the footage online, bringing the number of the journalists detained on this matter to seven.

Last week, three of the seven journalists were released, the independent Radio Tamazuj reported today quoting a lawyer who refused to be identified fearing reprisal.

In a statement, Yakani who is the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) welcomed the released of the three journalists and urged the government to forgive the remaining four.

“CEPO welcomes the release of the 3 detained journalists. It is good demonstration of respect of human rights. CEPO with due respect and honor is urging the leadership of the country to forgive the four remaining journalists in detention as an honor for the president’s declaration for year 2023 to be a year for forgiveness, reconciliation and development,” Yakani said.

“If the journalists are in conflict with the law and have made mistakes violating the law, they should be handled in a competent court other than subjecting them to any form of torture. It will be a good sign to translate the recent declaration of the president for forgives and reconciliation in year 2023. media or journalists are not enemy of the state,” Yakani stressed.

He further urged the “the leadership for forgiveness of the other four journalists yet under detention as an honor of president declaration for year 2023 to be year for forgiveness and reconciliation.”