Journalist Bullen Alexander Bala. Courtesy photo

A Juba Monitor journalist is reportedly being detained at Malakia police station after he was arrested Friday while covering student protests at the University of Juba.

The students had organized what they termed “peaceful protests against hyperinflation and economic hardships.”

While covering the protests, Bullen Alexander Bala was allegedly arrested by the National Security and taken to one of the detention centres at the riverside.

He was later transferred to Malakia police station where he spent the night.

According to the Editor-In-Chief of the Juba Monitor newspaper, there have been no charges brought against the journalist.

Anna Nimiriano who visited the reporter this morning says his condition “looks dire.”

She says his media gadgets have been confiscated.

Anna describes the arrest as an infringement on media freedoms by authorities in the country.

The Media Authority Act 2013, prohibits the unlawful arrest, detention, harassment, intimidation and torture of journalists.

But according to rights groups, dozens of reporters have been subjected to intimidation, arrest, censorship, and violence since South Sudan’s independence.