S. Sudan denies ordering arrest of independent journalist
February 11, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s presidency has denied ordering the arrest of any journalist, saying it was unaware of the circumstance under which its operatives acted.
Mading Ngor, an independent journalist who writes for multiple media, was reportedly detained by security personnel after refusing to stop taking photographs at a protest.
Ngor is the third independent journalist to be arrested in the past week.
“The office of the president has not until this moment been informed about the arrest of any journalist. We have no information about the circumstance leading to the arrest,” presidential spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.
In a separate interview, the acting general at the ministry of information and broadcasting, Paul Jacob said he had no idea why the journalist was arrested.
“I have no idea of the arrest. I have not received any information but I know Mading Ngor as a journalist,” Jacob told Sudan Tribune in an interview.
Relatives and other correspondents said Ngor resisted orders to stop taking pictures of Central Equatoria state employees protesting lack of payment for over nine months.
“Mading Ngor was arrested in my presence. They (security personnel) asked us to stop taking pictures but he refused. So they decided to take him and I left. I think it was because I stopped taking pictures. I put down my equipment and waited [for] what they would say. Then one of them told me to pick up my things and go. ‘Pick your things and go now. We don’t want to see you again, go away,’” a journalist quoted one of personnel to have said.
A security source who was not at the scene of the incident claimed the action taken by government operatives followed failure by the journalist to comply to orders issued.
“He [Ngor] did not want to listen to anybody like the other journalists, so the way he conducted himself raised suspicions and prompted the action. The officers wanted to know more from the investigation why he did not want to cooperate and explain what he wanted to do,” he said.
The source was, however, optimistic that the journalist will eventually be released.
Edmund Yakani, a South Sudanese activist urged the country’s leadership to specifically tackle issues concerning the continuous arrest and detention of journalist.
“It does not make sense when government official says they have not ordered any arrest or detention of journalists and also unaware of conditions that lead to the arrest and detention of journalists,” Yakani said in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.
“This means that if all the arrest and detention of the journalists witnessed recently are all arbitrary, then this is serious constitutional challenge,” he further stressed.
(ST)