Philippine court acquits top critic of ex-president Duterte's 'war on drugs'

FILE PHOTO: Philippine police escort Leila de Lima, a senator detained on drug charges, on her way to a local court to face an obstruction of justice complaint in Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines March 13, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

MANILA (Reuters) -A Philippine court on Friday acquitted of a drugs charge one of the fiercest critics of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte's "war on drugs", a move welcomed by activists who called her incarceration a vindictive effort to harass and silence her.

The court cleared former senator Leila de Lima, 63, of the second of three criminal charges against her, which stemmed from allegations made publicly by Duterte that as a justice minister in an earlier administration, she took payments from drug gangs in prisons.