The International Press Institute (IPI) calls for the immediate release of the editor and deputy editor of The Destiny newspaper in South Sudan, who were arrested just days after the paper – now banned – published its first issue.

Ngor Garang and Dengdit Ayok have been in detention since 2 November and 5 November, respectively.

“As South Sudan moves forward as a sovereign country and democracy, the right of journalists to publish criticism and news will be become increasingly important, because it is through the media that people conduct the public discourse that should eventually contribute to shaping government policy,” said IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “We urge South Sudan’s authorities to free Ngor Garang and Dengdit Ayok, and to lift the ban on their publication, so that they can do their jobs.”

On Monday, members of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS) met with National Security representatives, the army spokesperson, and the chairman of the South Sudan Human Rights Commission, Lawrence Korbandi, to discuss the issue, AMIDSS Executive Director Hakim Moi told IPI in an email.  During their meeting, Korbandi agreed that national security acted outside its mandate by arresting and detaining the journalists, who have reportedly been held far longer than is allowed under South Sudanese law.

“I have today repeated calls for the immediate release from detention of the two journalists, and urged the security to bring any lawful charges against Destiny newspaper or the detained journalists,” Moi said in an email last night.

AMDISS further called for security services to “respect and operate within the rule of law”, and called on the government of South Sudan and the national legislature to “prioritise passing overdue media legislation bills to protect press freedoms”, the group said in a press statement.

Ngor Garang, an editor at The Destiny newspaper and a reporter for The Sudan Tribune, was detained last Friday in connection with an op-ed that had appeared on 26 October, the Tribune reported on its website. On 5 November, The Destiny deputy editor Dengdit Ayok was arrested. The Destiny is the English version of Al-Misier, an Arabic-language paper also based in Juba, RSF reported.

According to The Sudan Tribune, the journalists were arrested in connection with an op-ed published in The Destiny’s first issue, in which the author criticised South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir for having allowed his daughter to marry a foreigner. The Destiny was suspended by the information ministry despite having issued an apology, the Tribune said.