Media groups slam arrest, ask for charges against Maria Ressa to be dropped

Maria Ressa - Reuters

PETALING JAYA: International and local media groups have criticised the arrest of veteran Philippine journalist Maria Ressa (pic), and are urging that the cyber libel case against her news site Rappler be dropped.

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (Wan-Ifra) described the arrest of Ressa, a journalist who has written critically of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, as “a despicable escalation on what was already an outrageous charge”.

“Maria Ressa and Rappler have been under a sustained, politically motivated legal assault for years now, simply for doing their jobs and holding power to account,” said Wan-Ifra chief executive officer Vincent Peyregne.

“This latest attempt to prosecute Rappler for ‘cyber libel’ under legislation that was not even enacted when the alleged libellous article was published is simply absurd,” he said in a statement Wednesday (Feb 13).

Ressa, who is a 2018 Time Magazine Person of the Year, was arrested on Wednesday at her office and will be taken to court to face charges.

However, if the case against Ressa goes ahead against the advice of the National Bureau of Investigation’s own legal team, this would set a dangerous precedent and send a chilling message to all online publishers, said Peyregne.

He added that prior to her arrest, a letter was sent to Duterte on behalf of Wan-Ifra and the World Editors Forum (WEF).

WEF president David Callaway urged public support for Ressa.

“This is an outrageous escalation in a growing war on the free press globally and specifically against a brave journalist seeking only to tell truth to power in the Philippines.

“Maria Ressa represents all of us and we must rally behind her at this dangerous moment,” he said.

Rappler has borne the brunt of what civil society say is a state-sponsored campaign to intimidate Duterte's opponents by hitting them with legal measures, or subjecting them to a torrent of online hate whipped up by social media “influencers”, some of whom hold government posts.

In a statement, the National Union of Journalist Philippines (NUJP) said it believes her arrest on the “clearly manipulated charge” of cyber libel is a shameless act of persecution by a “bully government”.

“The administration is obsessed with shutting down Rappler and intimidating the rest of the independent Philippine media into toeing the line.

“We call on all freedom-loving Filipinos to stand with the independent Philippines press in defence of the rights not only of media but of the people – for in suppressing the press. it is the people's right to know that is trampled on,” the NUJP said.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said that Ressa’s arrest was a very serious threat to media freedom and journalists’ safety.