Salva Kiir arrests scribe for criticising him
By George Murumba
7th Nov 2011: Ngor Aguot Garang, a Journalist at Sudan Tribune, was arrested and taken into custody on Wednesday 2nd November by South Sudan’s security services following the publication of an opinion piece in which the scribe criticised South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir in The Destiny, a newspaper which Ngor edits in Juba.
In the article, published in The Destiny’s first edition on 26 October, its author Gengdit Ayok, who is also the newspaper’s deputy editor in chief, said that that Kiir should not have allowed his daughter to marry someone from outside South Sudan, claiming it was unpatriotic.
Ayok’s comment piece, entitled ‘Nyan Bany,’ literally meaning ’daughter of the president,’ questions why president Salva Kiir married his daughter to an Ethiopian man, whom he constantly referred to as a “foreigner.” Sudan Tribune described Ngor’s detention as ’illegal’ and said that ’he has not been charged with, nor has he committed any crime.’ Ngor is being held in Juba at a prison near Jebel Market, Sudan Tribune understands.
Sources at The Destiny newspaper said they had received a letter on Thursday 3 November from a senior security official accusing the newspaper of failing to follow professional ethics and publishing illicit news, which was defamatory in nature. The letter did not mention the actual article which led to Ngor’s arrest.
The Destiny newspaper has since been suspended by South Sudan’s information ministry despite an apology from the newspaper. Yesterday, global human rights watchdog Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of the detained Journalist. END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
