Veteran journalist Alfred Taban has been nominated for the Press Freedom prize by Reporters without Borders and TV5 Monde.

Mr Alfred is among 22 journalists from 19 countries nominated worldwide.

In a statement, Reporters Without Borders say the nominees are those being prosecuted or are in prison for refusing to censor themselves.

Others are exposed to threats and physical violence from those they criticize.

“Authoritarian regimes cracked down harder on journalists and bloggers in 2016,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.

“It is no coincidence that nearly half of the nominees work in the bottom 20 of the 180 countries in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index. RSF hails the courage and determination of all these women and men with a common commitment to fighting for freedom of information.”

For her part, RSF programme director Lucie Morillon said: “A significant number of the nominees are unfortunately in the process of being prosecuted or are languishing in jail solely because they wanted to inform their fellow citizens about matters of public interest.”

Alfred was summoned and even arrested for writing or publishing in his Juba Monitor newspaper articles that are considered sensitive by the security service. His newspaper was closed once this year.

Mr Alfred was also arrested many times as an editor while in Khartoum before the independence of South Sudan in 2011.

The Reporters without Borders-TV5 Monde Prize for Press Freedom will be awarded to three laureates – a journalist, a media outlet and a citizen.

The award ceremony will take place in Strasbourg on 8 November. This is the 25th year the media campaign will have awarded this prize.