Last Updated on January 24, 2025 by NewsTurkana
The South Sudan Bar Association has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the country’s National Communication Authority to revoke the social media ban or it risks being sued at a regional court.
In a statement shared with Eye Radio’s newsroom, signed by the chairperson of the Sudan Bar Association, it stated that failure to rescind the ban, the bar will take legal proceedings at South Sudan courts, the East African Court of Justice, as well as other regional and international justice systems.
On Wednesday, the National Communication Authority ordered all Internet Service Providers to partially block all social media sites within the territory of South Sudan for a period of 90 days, effective January 22, 2025.
The Bar Association stated that the decision violates Article 24, Sections 1 and 2 of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011 as amended, which grants the citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression, reception and dissemination of information, publication, and access to the press.
The South Sudan Bar Association rejected NCA’s justifications that cite the need to stop the videos and footage of the atrocities committed in Wad-Medani, Sudan, from being circulated on social media platforms in South Sudan.
It argues that social media platforms provide the people of South Sudan the right to access information and that it was through social media that they came to know about the atrocities in Sudan, and enabled them to follow the fate of their dear ones.
The association has described the decision of NCA as unjust as it also deprived entrepreneur’s opportunity to market their goods and services as part of e-commerce.
According to the association, banning social media platforms gives a collective punishment to all Social Sudanese over the misconduct of few individuals, which it said is unreasonable, unfair and unjustifiable.
