S. Sudan threatens to jail journalists over “unethical” coverage of coronavirus
South Sudan’s incumbent President, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, points at his opponents in a battle to consolidate power (Photo credit: unknown)
May 14, 2020 (SSNN) – South Sudan government threatened on Thursday to jail journalists over unethical reporting urging media houses to strictly desist from what it said is a non-professional reporting practices.
In a statement this evening, South Sudan’s high-level taskforce said it “strongly denounces the wave of information and disinformation around COVID- 19 disease including publishing in social media, names of private citizens allegedly confirmed COVID-19 positive.”
The body tasked to fight the coronavirus “assure the public that the Ministry of Health does not publish names nor does it share any information about private citizens in public or social media.”
The statement seen by South Sudan News Now urged the public “to ignore this malicious propaganda, and further warns the culprits to desist from their hateful puffery,” and that families of private victims “reserve the right of taking legal action against the perpetrators.”
The government threat comes amid reports of demise of senior government officials as direct results of COVID-19, the deadly disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Medical workers have accused the government of hiding COVID-19 fatalities which they said could have raised raised awareness with South Sudan’s ignorant population.
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