Six journalists arrested over footage of South Sudan president wetting himself

Also: South Sudan: Journalists held over film of president appearing to wet himself (BBC)

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Source: The Guardian

Six journalists arrested over footage of South Sudan president wetting himself

State broadcaster’s staff held on suspicion of disseminating the clip of Salva Kiir at official event

Danya Hajjaji
Fri 6 Jan 2023 21.43 GMT
Last modified on Sat 7 Jan 2023 11.32 GMT

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.

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.

The CPJ, citing media reports and people who spoke on condition of anonymity, named the detainees as control room director Joval Tombe, camera operator and technician Victor Lado, camera operators Joseph Oliver and Jacob Benjamin, camera operator and technician Mustafa Osman, and control room technician Cherbek Ruben.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/06/six-journalists-reportedly-held-over-footage-of-south-sudans-president-wetting-himself

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Source: BBC

South Sudan: Journalists held over film of president appearing to wet himself

7 January 2023

By George Wright
BBC News

Six journalists in South Sudan have been arrested over the circulation of footage appearing to show President Salva Kiir wetting himself, media rights groups say.

In December, a video shared on social media appeared to show Mr Kiir urinating on himself as the national anthem played at a function.

Six staff from the state broadcaster were detained this week.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is now calling for their release.

Patrick Oyet, president of the South Sudan Union of Journalists, told Reuters that the journalists "are suspected of having knowledge on how the video of the president urinating himself came out".

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64198312