Mary Ajith, chairperson of the Association of Media Development in South Sudan, AMDISS | Credit | Eye Radio

The chairperson of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS) has called for immediate and unconditional release of the Number One Citizen newspaper journalist.

“I am calling for the release of Ochaya and if there is any case against him it should be taken to court,” says Mary Ajith, chairperson of AMDISS.

Jackson Ochaya was initially declared missing since last Tuesday.

However, the Union of Journalists in South Sudan told Eye Radio on Monday that he is being held at a national security holding facility in Juba.

The circumstances surrounding Ochays’s detention are not clear, but he last wrote a news article on clashes between government forces and the opposition, National Salvation Front or NAS.

“Ochaya did not write on his blog, but in a newspaper. There is a management of that newspaper; it should be the management answerable through a lawsuit,” she argues.

Since independence in 2011, dozens of reporters have been subjected to intimidation, arrest, censorship and violence, according to rights groups.

According to Reporters without Borders’ 2019 global press freedom index, South Sudan ranked 139 out of 180 countries.

Misconceptions about journalism in the country extend beyond the authorities, it says.

Arbitrary arrest and detention, harassment, intimidation and killing of journalists have forced many to abandon the profession or leave the country.