Six journalists have been detained by South Sudan security forces over viral footage of the country’s president apparently urinating on himself, a press freedom watchdog has reported.
A video posted on YouTube shows Kiir, dressed in his trademark black hat and a grey outfit at what is described as a road commissioning ceremony, with a wet substance staining his left trouser leg.
An official from SSBC quoted by independent station Radio Tamazuj said the outlet did not broadcast the footage.
The clip, filmed during an official event, shows South Sudanese leader Salva Kiir standing for the national anthem, initially oblivious as a stain spreads on his trousers and a pool forms at his feet.
The camera abruptly turns away after Kiir and his entourage appear to notice what is happening.
On Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that six journalists for the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) had been detained by the country’s National Security Service under suspicion of an unauthorised release of the footage.
Muthoki Mumo, CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, said the arrests match a ‘pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavourable’.
‘Authorities should unconditionally release these six SSBC employees and ensure that they can work without further intimidation or threat of arrest,’ Mumo said.
‘If there is a prima facie case of professional misconduct or offence then let authorities expedite an administrative or legal process to address the issue in a fair, transparent [sic] and in accordance with the law,’ the union added.
An SSBC official told independent outlet Radio Tamazuj the broadcaster did not air the footage.
Kiir has been president since South Sudan gained independence in 2011. Government officials have repeatedly denied rumors circulating on social media that he is unwell.
The country has been embroiled in conflict for much of the past decade.
The detained journalists are camera operators Joseph Oliver and Mustafa Osman; video editor Victor Lado; contributor Jacob Benjamin; and Cherbek Ruben and Joval Toombe from the control room, Oyet said.
‘We are concerned because those who are detained now have stayed longer than what the law says,’ he added.
By law, South Sudanese authorities are allowed to detain suspects for only 24 hours before bringing them before a judge.
The incident ‘matches a pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavorable,’ said the sub-Saharan Africa representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, Muthoki Mumo.
