High-profile journalist Maria Ressa has been found guilty of libel in the Philippines’ in a case seen as a test of the country’s media freedom.
The former CNN journalist is the head of a news site that’s critical of strongman President Rodrigo Duterte.
A writer on the site, Rappler, was also convicted. They have both been released on bail pending appeal – but could face six years in prison.
Ressa has denied the charges and claimed they were politically motivated. However, the president and his supporters have accused Ressa and her site of reporting fake news.
“Rappler and I were not the only ones on trial,” Rappler said after the verdict.
“I think what you’re seeing is death by a thousand cuts – not just of press freedom but of democracy”.
The case was in relation to an eight-year-old Rappler story alleging businessman Wilfredo Keng had links to illegal drugs and human trafficking. It also said he lent his car to a top judge. The article was written by former Rappler journalist Reynaldo Santos Jr who was found guilty alongside Ressa.
The prosecution came under “cyber-libel” law which came into effect in September 2012 – four months after Rappler published the article. But prosecutors said correction of the article in 2014 – to fix a “typo” – meant the article was republished after the law had come into effect.
