Two of the four journalists who were held in January after a video purportedly showing the president of South Sudan wetting his pants at a public event have been freed.
Victor Ladu and Mustapha Osman’s release has been hailed, according to a statement from the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS).
When the national anthem was playing at a function in December of last year, a video shared on social media looked to show Kiir urinating on himself.
Later, six employees of the public broadcaster were detained, but only two are still there.
In a statement, UJOSS urged the government to free Garang John and Jacob Benjamin or, if they had a case to answer, to have them appear in court.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other rights organizations had denounced the arrests.
The arrests are consistent with “a pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavorable,” Muthoki Mumo, a representative of CPJ for sub-Saharan Africa, said at the time.
