Rights body demands release of detained S. Sudanese journalist

February 9, 2016 (JUBA) – The campaign group, Amnesty International has demanded urgent actions over release of Joseph Afandi, a South Sudanese journalist who worked with the Juba-based El Tabeer daily newspaper.

Afandi was reportedly arrested and detained by the National Security Service (NSS) on 29 December 2015 and is being held incommunicado at its headquarters the capital, Juba.

“The NSS [National Security Service] has not formally charged him with any offence or presented him before a competent judicial authority,” partly reads a statement, which Amnesty International issued Tuesday, while demanding that the detained journalist either be presented before a competent a judicial authority or be immediately released.

Afandi’s arrest, it said, is believed to be in connection with an article he wrote criticizing South Sudan’s ruling party (SPLM). The article was published on 23 December 2015.

The NSS has since stopped any printing of the El Tabeer daily newspaper until further notice. The paper started publication in November last year.

(ST)