According to media rights organizations, six journalists have been detained in South Sudan as a result of the distribution of video that appeared to show President Salva Kiir wetting himself.
When the national anthem was playing at a gathering in December, a video posted to social media appeared to show Mr. Kiir urinating on himself.
This week, six employees of the state broadcaster were detained.
For their release, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is currently calling.
The journalists “are accused of having knowledge on how the video of the president urinating himself came out,” according to Patrick Oyet, president of the South Sudan Union of Journalists, in a statement to Reuters.
The tape, according to the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), was never broadcast.
Muthoki Mumo, a spokesman of CPJ for sub-Saharan Africa, said the arrests fit “a trend of security forces resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unflattering.” He demanded their immediate release.
According to South Sudan’s Minister of Information, Michael Makuei, the public should hold off on learning the reason behind the journalists’ detention.
Rights organizations have regularly urged the South Sudanese government to stop intimidating and harassing journalists.
South Sudan, the newest nation in Africa, elected Mr. Kiir as its first leader in 2011.
But since then, the nation has faced various crises, including violent conflict, political unrest, natural disasters, and hunger.
