Three Journalists Held, Radio Station Shut In South Sudan

Security officials briefly detained three journalists in South Sudan and shut down their radio station Friday in connection with a demonstration planned by activists next week, a rights group and a media union said

Juba, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Aug, 2021 ) :Security officials briefly detained three journalists in South Sudan and shut down their radio station Friday in connection with a demonstration planned by activists next week, a rights group and a media union said.

A coalition of civil society groups has urged citizens to hold nationwide protests on Monday, in defiance of the authorities, and called on the country's leadership to step down.

Security officials stormed the compound of Jonglei FM, an independent radio station in eastern Jonglei state, and took three senior journalists, into custody, before confiscating their phones and closing down their operations, the head of a local rights group told AFP.

"They took three staff of this radio station; one is the station manager, another is the programme manager and the other one is the editor-in-chief", said Bol Deng Bol, executive director of Intrepid South Sudan.

Patrick Oyet, the chairman of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS), told AFP the detainees were released later in the day but the radio station remained inoperational.

The security officers had suspected the station wanted to "air something to do with the call by the people's coalition for protest", said Patrick.

"This is a wrong procedure and as UJOSS we really condemn this procedure the security have taken," said Patrick.

Activist Bol said the incident amounted to "an attack" on media freedom.

"We get all information through radio stations, this is the main means for people to be served with information they want. So attacking this media house, shutting them down is an attack that we condemn," Bol said.