The journalists, who work for the state television company South Sudan broadcasting corporation, were arrested by agents from the country’s national security service on Tuesday, according to the organization Committee to protect journalists (CPJ).
They are being investigated for a leaked video showing President Salva Kiir, South Sudan’s head of government since independence in 2011, apparently urinating on himself.
The video is from a televised ceremony on December 13. In the clip, which quickly went viral, the 71-year-old Kiir is seen in a wide-brimmed hat, mouth guard and sunglasses, accompanied by the drums and wind instruments of the music choir. Just as he discovers the trickle along the trouser leg, the television broadcast is interrupted.
US-based CPJ demands in a statement that the journalists be released immediately. According to the organization, the arrests follow “a pattern in which security personnel resort to arbitrary arrests as soon as media reporting is perceived as unfavorable”.
The South Sudanese Journalists’ Union is calling on the authorities to “quickly complete” the investigation into the six journalists suspected of leaking the video to the public.