Veteran Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, whose website has put President Rodrigo Duterte under tough scrutiny, was convicted of libel on Monday and faces up to six years in jail, in a ruling widely seen as a blow to media freedom.
Ressa, chief executive of Rappler (www.rappler.com) and a former CNN journalist, was charged with “cyber libel” over a 2012 article that linked a businessman to illegal activities.
After the verdict, Ressa vowed not be silenced and accused the judiciary of becoming complicit in a campaign to stifle press freedom in the Southeast Asian nation.
“We’re at the precipice, if we fall over we’re no longer a democracy,” she told reporters.
The decision fuelled concern over human rights in a country where Duterte’s war on drugs has left thousands dead and he recently renewed a threat to kill drug dealers, despite condemnation in a UN report.
He is soon expected to sign an anti-terrorism law his opponents fear could target them, but which he says is needed to fight extremism.
To the shock of many, leading broadcaster ABS-CBN Corp, which had criticised Duterte, had to stop broadcasts last month after its licence expired.
In handing down the verdict against Ressa, 56, a dual US-Filipino citizen, Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa said the exercise of a freedom “should and must be used with due regard to the freedom of others”. Ressa faced up to six years in jail, the judge said.
Reynaldo Santos, a former Rappler researcher and writer, was also found guilty.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte supported freedom of speech and it was a previous administration that pushed for the“cyber libel” law.
Duterte had never filed a libel case against a journalist, he added.
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, part of a legal team representing Ressa, called the conviction “an affront to the rule of law, a stark warning to the press, and a blow to democracy in the Philippines”.