Six journalists in South Sudan have been detained over the circulation of footage displaying President Salva Kiir showing to moist himself throughout an official occasion, the nationwide journalists union mentioned.

The video, mentioned to shot in December, confirmed a darkish stain unfold down the 71-year-old president’s gray trousers as he stood for the nationwide anthem at an occasion.

The video, nonetheless, was by no means aired on tv however subsequently circulated on social media.

The journalists working work with the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation had been detained on Tuesday and Wednesday, mentioned Patrick Oyet, president of the South Sudan Union of Journalists.

They “are suspected of having knowledge on how the video of the president urinating himself came out,” he advised Reuters.

South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei and National Security Service spokesperson David Kumuri didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

Kiir has been president since South Sudan gained independence in 2011. Government officers have repeatedly denied rumours circulating on social media that he’s unwell. The nation has been embroiled in battle for a lot of the previous decade.

The detained journalists are digital camera operators Joseph Oliver and Mustafa Osman; video editor Victor Lado; contributor Jacob Benjamin; and Cherbek Ruben and Joval Toombe from the management room, Oyet mentioned.

“We are concerned because those who are detained now have stayed longer than what the law says,” he added.

By regulation, South Sudanese authorities are allowed to detain suspects for less than 24 hours earlier than bringing them earlier than a choose.

The incident “matches a pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavorable,” mentioned the sub-Saharan Africa consultant for the Committee to Protect Journalists, Muthoki Mumo.

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