Reporters Without Borders calls for the release of Sudanese editor

October 13, 2008 (PARIS) — International press freedom group called today for the release of a Sudanese editor arrested over the weekend by the southern Sudanese authorities after the publication of an article about corruption.

Nhial Bol was arrested Friday after he published an article discussing high salaries paid to officials in South Sudan’s ministry of legal affairs.

Reporters Without Borders called in a statement issued today in Paris for the release of Nhial Bol, the editor of the English-language daily The Citizen, who was arrested on 10 October in Juba, the capital of semi-autonomous South Sudan.

“The South Sudan authorities acted in an illegal and unscrupulous fashion by arresting this journalist just before the weekend, so that he would not be able to request release on bail,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“If the government thought it was libelled by an article in the newspaper, it should have respected the law and justice by bringing a civil lawsuit,” the statement added.

Arrested on the morning of 10 October, Bol was taken to Malakia police station in Juba. He has reportedly been charged with libel and “disseminating false information” by the South Sudan authorities in connection with an article in the 7 October issue about high salaries paid to justice ministry officials.

The day after his arrest, Bol said that, instead of throwing him in prison, the government should have sued his newspaper before a court, as it was a civil matter. “They are trying to cover up their behaviour,” he said.

The Sudan Journalists General Union called yesterday for the release of the editor of The Citizen.

(ST)