South Sudanese artist, Lady Kola - Courtesy

Juba County Court has temporarily banned media houses, social media, nightclubs as well as private and public parties from signer Lady Kola’s countervail Little Girls song.

This means she can not as well perform the song on any stage.

In an order issued by Juba Court Judge Lual Chuai Deng on November 9, and shared with Eye Radio, the temporary ban was made effective on the 6^th of November 2023.

Kola was arrested on September 17, 2023, after a lawyer filed a case against her over a trending song that is said to contain vulgar lyrics

Advocate Josephine Adhet sued her over the song that allegedly promotes immorality without being censored on social media platforms.

According to the order, Judge Deng instructed the relevant authorities to implement the court order.

Reacting to the court order, the complainant’s lawyer Emmanuel Rundial confirmed the verdict in an interview with Eye Radio on Friday.

“We submitted a request to the court in solidarity with the prosecution to stop broadcasting this song on all platforms, nightclubs, and social media until the case before the court is decided,” Rundial said.

“As for yesterday’s (Thursday) session, the defense lawyer for the mission requested that the case be referred from before the judge to be transferred to another judge, a decision that was rejected by the court.”

Rundial said the court will have another hearing session on the case on November 15 to listen to the investigator.

Following the singer’s arrest two months back, a police case was reportedly filed under sections 259, 251, 260 and 289 of the South Sudan Penal Code Act 2008.

The sections talk about regulating sales of obscene books and media content.

When contacted by Eye Radio, Lady Cola’s defense lawyer James Altaib Jazz confirmed the court order.

But the Advocate Altaib criticized the signer for going on social media to dismiss the order as fake.

“That was the court order that was issued in our present, it’s the court order, she has to abide by, and she is not supposed to write things randomly without consulting us because she is protected by us.”

The transitional constitution [Article 24 (2)] calls on all levels of government to guarantee the freedom of the press and other media as shall be regulated by law in a democratic society.

It also warns that all media shall abide by professional ethics.

If found guilty, Lady Kola could be sentenced to a term not exceeding 2 years in jail or with a fine or both.

However, some free speech campaigners have voiced concerns over the decision to sue the singer.