Eastern Equatoria State Parliament calls for release of journalist

The Eastern Equatoria State Parliament in South Sudan has called on the Catholic Church to immediately withdraw its lawsuit against a journalist who was arrested for vandalizing a church statue.

Congress considers that the arrest of Sisto Germano Oshid is unconstitutional.

This was expressed by Michael Kokor, Chairman of the Special Standing Committee on Information and Communications, in a joint press statement at the Torit Assembly on Wednesday.

Ohide is a staff member of the community radio station Singaita FM. On Tuesday, he was arrested for allegedly airing a story about the statue being smashed.

He is the third victim to be arrested in the statue farce. Two family members of the woman who allegedly vandalized the statue were arrested last Friday.

The Eastern Equatoria State Judiciary on Monday transferred Grace Lokoro and her daughter Nandege Magdalene from Torit Central Police Station to the Main Prison without trial.

“Today, I call you to specifically condemn the arrest of journalist Sisto Oshid Germano, who is now on his way to Torit to attend his trial,” Kokor said.

He said the arrest was unfair because Oshid was only interviewing a pastor about some crimes committed by some people in the church.

This is intimidation and a restriction on free speech, which our parliament supports, he said, noting that the journalist was only trying to resolve a personal conflict with the church.

Faisal Likale Olum, the chairman of parliament for legal and constitutional affairs, said the church had the right to exercise its faith but should not fall victim to the work of journalists.

“Arresting a journalist for disseminating information is completely unconstitutional and I urge the church to withdraw this case and release the journalist,” Olum said.

The Eastern Equatoria State Minister of Information, John Elia Ahaji, has distanced himself from the arrest of the journalists, saying the government had nothing to do with the matter.

He said the government will see justice done to the law as no one is above the law.

South Sudanese journalists reported that authorities frequently obstructed, harassed, and arbitrarily arrested them, limiting their ability to report the news to the public.

The country ranked 136th out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders.