MANILA, Feb 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, who was arrested in her Manila office on Wednesday, has been released following what rights advocates had called an act of “persecution”.
Her detention on a charge of “cyber libel” was seen to be a dramatic escalation in the legal pressure bearing down on Ressa and her website Rappler, which was already facing tax evasion charges that could shut it down.
He arrest came following repeated clashes with President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte has cracked down on high-profile critics in the press and legislature who dared criticise his signature anti-drug campaign that has killed thousands.
Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine “Person of the Year” in 2018 for her journalistic work, left the Rappler offices yesterday following her arrest with agents from the National Bureau of Investigation and surrounded by cameras.
“The case is ridiculous and the fact that they issue an arrest warrant is a travesty of justice,” Ressa told journalists after her arrest.
“This is what journalists in the Philippines now have to go through,” she added.
Rappler has drawn the administration’s ire since publishing reports critical of Duterte’s so-called war on drugs that critics say has targeted the poor and could amount to crimes against humanity.
“FORCIBLY SILENCE CRITICAL MEDIA”
However, the new case against Ressa and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr stems from a 2012 report written about a businessman’s alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation’s top court.
While investigators initially dismissed the businessman’s 2017 complaint about the article, the case was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors for their consideration.
Philippine journalists had immediately attacked the surprise serving of the warrant, saying the government had gone to ridiculous lengths to forcibly silence critical media.
Amnesty International also swiftly condemned the arrest as “brazenly politically motivated”.
“In a country where justice takes years to obtain, we see the charges against her being railroaded,” the group said in a statement.
The Philippines tumbled six places last year in Reporters Without Borders rankings of press freedom to 133rd out of 180, with the body noting the government has pressured and silenced critics.
Duterte has lashed out at other critical media outfits, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN.
He had threatened to go after their owners over alleged unpaid taxes or block the network’s franchise renewal application.
Some of the drug crackdown’s highest profile critics have wound up behind bars, including Senator Leila de Lima, who was jailed on drug charges she insists were fabricated to silence her.
Ressa insists the site is not anti-Duterte, saying it is just doing its job to hold the government to account.
The law that forms the foundation of the case takes aim at various online offences, including computer fraud and hacking.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the cases against Ressa had nothing to do with her work as a journalist.
“This has nothing to do with freedom of expression or the press,” he told broadcaster ABS-CBN. “Regardless of who commits any crime, he or she will be charged in accordance with the law.”
In the tax case, the government accuses Rappler Holdings, Ressa and the site’s accountant of failing to pay taxes on 2015 bond sales that it alleges netted gains of 162.5 million pesos (US$3 million).
–NNN-AGENCIES