Amnesty International asks gov’t to charge or release Afandy
The rights group, Amnesty International, has urged the government to charge journalist Joseph Afandy and take him to court or release him immediately.
Mr Afandy was arrested in Juba at the end of December after writing a newspaper article critical of the SPLM.
Since then, his lawyer and family say he has been in detention without access to his parents and the lawyer.
In a statement, Amnesty International says the journalist is at risk of torture and other ill-treatments while in detention.
The group is ‘calling on the authorities to charge Joseph Afandy with a recognizable criminal offence and present him before a competent judicial authority or immediately release him’.
It urges the authorities to ensure that Afandy is not subjected to torture during his detention.
It also appealed to the authorities to ensure that he be granted unrestricted access to his family, a lawyer of his choice and adequate medical treatment.
Though the National Security Service have confirmed that they have Joseph Afandy in their custody, they have not formally charged him with any offense or presented him before a competent judicial authority.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Dr Lam Akol has urged the government to stop arbitrary arrests of journalists.
Dr Lam says individuals or institutions who feel defamed by journalists or media houses should pursue their cases in court.
“If I’ve a problem with what a journalist wrote or what a journalist said on radio, I should go to the court and the court will judge who is right and who is wrong and what sentence to mete out,” Dr Lam said during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of Bakhita Radio.
He added that defamation should be civil, as opposed to criminal offences under the media laws.
