Footage from December confirmed the 71-year-old president a darkish spot spreading throughout his left leg as he sang the nationwide anthem at a street commissioning occasion. The video was not televised, however went viral on social media, the place it went viral.

Journalists working with the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Company had been arrested by Nationwide Safety Service brokers on Tuesday, in response to the Committee to Defend Journalists.

Patrick Oyet, head of the South Sudan Journalists’ Union, informed Reuters they had been “suspected to have data of how the video of the President urinating on himself got here to be.”

Kiir has been president since South Sudan grew to become unbiased from Sudan in July 2011.

Authorities officers have repeatedly denied rumors circulating on social media that Kiir is sick.

Media rights teams have referred to as for the quick launch from the management room of digicam operators Joseph Oliver and Mustafa Osman, video editor Victor Lado, contributors Jacob Benjamin and 6 journalists Cherbek Ruben and Joval Toombe.

Mr Oyet informed Reuters he was apprehensive that they had been being detained for longer intervals than is legally permitted. Underneath South Sudanese legislation, authorities can solely detain suspects for twenty-four hours earlier than taking them to courtroom.

Muthoki Mumo, CPJ’s consultant for Sub-Saharan Africa, mentioned the arrests matched the “mannequin of safety personnel resorting to arbitrary detentions when authorities thought the information was adverse.”

Authorities should unconditionally launch these six SSBC workers and guarantee they will work with out additional intimidation or threats of arrest.”

The South Sudan Journalists Syndicate additionally referred to as for a “fast conclusion” of the investigation into the six folks suspected of being conscious of the “particular picture” being made public.

“If there’s an preliminary case {of professional} misconduct or crime, enable the authorities to expedite the executive or authorized course of to cope with the matter pretty, transparently (after all) and in accordance with the legislation,” the assertion mentioned on Friday.