A rights watchdog urged South Sudan to urgently step up efforts to protect freedom of speech and assembly and asked the government to investigate and prosecute attacks on protesters, activists and journalists and pass laws to protect free speech.
Human Rights Watch unveiled on Thursday its World Report 2013 assessing progress on human rights during the past year in more than 90 countries.Africa director at Human Rights Watch Daniel Bekele said the year ended in South Sudan with two tragic incidents in which people lost their lives for expressing their opinions: the murder of Isaiah Ding Abraham Chan Awuol in Juba and the killing of protesters in Wau by security forces.
He added that South Sudan needs to show clearly it does not tolerate repression of basic freedoms.
The report accuses security forces of restricting freedom of expression by harassing, arresting, and detaining journalists without a legal basis on several occasions in 2012.
It underlines that the lack of media laws to guarantee freedom saying editors and reporters are especially vulnerable to harassment, arbitrary arrest, and censorship by security forces.
Mr Bekele said South Sudan should reverse the worrying trend toward repression of speech and assembly and start investigating and prosecuting all crimes against and abuses of those who speak out against the government.