US journalist deported from South Sudan

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan

South Sudan has deported an American freelance journalist working for the Associated Press (AP), local media reported Wednesday.

Justin Lynch, who has been working in South Sudan since July this year, was picked up Tuesday by National Security and taken to Juba International Airport and forcefully placed on a plane destined for Ugandan capital, Kampala, according to local media.

The presidential press secretary Ateny Wek Ateny confirmed Lynch’s deportation, saying it was based on his unethical reporting.

"I heard about the deportation of the Associated Press journalist from South Sudan to the neighboring Uganda and am not surprised at all, he has been beating the American rhetoric of genocide, alleged ethnic cleansing which are not realities on the ground,” Ateny told Anadolu Agency, adding the journalist was biased.

Lynch, 25, from Saratoga, New York, had reportedly been working on human rights violations in the violence-plagued nation since July clashes between government troops and rebels loyal to South Sudan exiled former vice president Riek Machar.

The Associated Press confirmed Lynch’s deportation, saying South Sudanese security agents had seized his cellphones and allowed him to pack his bag.

The American news agency defended the journalist, saying it will ask for an explanation from the South Sudanese government.

"Any move to suppress legitimate journalism and truthful reporting shedding light on humanitarian crimes is wrong and should be condemned. We hope that the government of South Sudan will reconsider its actions," Ian Phillips, AP’s vice president for international news told the agency Tuesday night.

Oliver Modi, the president of South Sudan Union of Journalists called the deportation an abuse of freedom of expression and a deprivation of professional rights amid a crackdown on media freedom in South Sudan.

"South Sudan is at critical juncture. This is abuse of press freedom, and this is how most prominent journalists left the profession due to death threats. The Union’s records proved that security organs are largely responsible for press freedom violations in the country," he said.

South Sudan is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2016 World Press Freedom Index, falling 26 places since the start of the civil war.

Since the civil war broke out in 2013, eight local journalists have died while on the job.