VietJoy

MALABO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA - Two journalists working for a private TV station in Equatorial Guinea are being held by police after they interviewed a suspended judge, sources told AFP on Wednesday.

The tiny West African state has one of the world's worst records for media rights, ranking 165th out of 180 on the 2019 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Raul Obiang, head of news for Asonga TV, said journalists Melanio Nkogo and Ruben Dario Bacale were picked up a week ago after broadcasting an interview with a judge, Nazario Oyono.

Oyono was suspended on August 21 by the president of the Supreme Court for "irregularities."

The pair are being held in the central police station in the town of Bata, Raul Obiang said.

He quoted the deputy head of security there as saying the two were being held because "they did work they shouldn't have done."

RSF called on the authorities to free the pair, adding that their arrest "shows the extreme vulnerability of journalists" working in Equatorial Guinea.

It recalled the case of noted cartoonist Ramon Nse Esono Ebale, who was jailed for five months before being released in March 2018.

Asonga is the only privately-owned TV and radio station in Equatorial Guinea, which has been run by iron-fisted President Teodoro Obiang Nguema for 40 years.

The station's owner is his son, Teodorin Nguema Obiang, who many say is being groomed for succession.