Journalist Maria Ressa who is a vocal critic of Philipines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested in her Manila office on Wednesday on ‘cyber libel’ charges against the news site she oversees Rappler.
Earlier in the day, she was served an arrest warrant by Philippines National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officers, Rappler reported.
Rappler said the charges are over an article it published in 2012. Ressa was indicted in relation to that case last week, which Amnesty International criticized as “yet another absurd legal attack” that amounted to “harassment.”
Her detention on a charge of “cyber libel” is 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.
“She’s been arrested and she’s been read her rights,” Rappler co-founder Beth Frondoso told journalists. “Fingers crossed — we’ll try to post bail tonight.”
Ressa, the chief executive of Rappler and a 2018 Time Person of the Year, has been indicted multiple times on libel and tax evasion charges that critics have described as politically motivated and designed to silence independent media in the southeast Asian country.
Rappler said authorities attempted to stop some of its journalists from filming the proceedings against Ressa on Wednesday, and that one officer who declined to give his name to reporters threatened to “go after you too.”