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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Thu Feb 14, 2019, 02:07 AM Feb 2019

Rappler editor Maria Ressa freed on bail after outcry

Source: The Guardian

Rappler editor Maria Ressa freed on bail after outcry

Philippines journalist targeted by President Duterte says cyber-liber case is‘politically motivated’ while US senator condemns ‘trumped-up charges’

Hannah Ellis-Petersen south-east Asia correspondent
Thu 14 Feb 2019 05.54 GMT

Maria Ressa, the editor of an online news outlet critical of the Philippines’ president, Rodrigo Duterte, has been released on bail after she was arrested on Wednesday.

Ressa was arrested at the headquarters of Rappler, the news site she founded, by four plainclothes officers and brought to the National Bureau of Investigation where she was held on charges of cyber-libel.

The charges, which Ressa said were “politically motivated”, relate to a story published in 2012 about a Philippine businessman and his allegedly corrupt connections to a top court judge. However, Ressa said that the case was part of a wider government campaign to intimidate and harass media outlets. The law being used against Ressa and Rappler was brought in four months after the story was published.

Ressa, who was named a Time Person of the year in 2018, posted bail of 100,000 Philippine pesos (£1,400) on Thursday morning and was released.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/14/rappler-editor-maria-ressa-freed-on-bail-after-outcry
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