In addition to the campaign against Rappler, Ressa also suffers from judicial harassment and has a handful of criminal cases pending in court, in addition to an appeal to a sentence of six years and six months in prison for a crime of cyber defamation.
The Philippine Securities Market Commission has revoked the registration of the news portal Rappler, co-founded by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Filipino Maria Ressa, and ordered the closure of the outlet, reported this Tuesday in a statement, although they can still appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
The regulatory body assures that Rappler violates the restrictions imposed in the country on the ownership of media in the hands of foreign entities, as several judicial decisions have previously maintained.
“We have discussed all possible scenarios with Rappler since the Commission issued its first decision in 2018. In our last General Assembly after the elections (on May 9) the worst case scenario was addressed again. But nothing ever prepares an organization sufficiently for an order to ‘kill’ », an employee of the media outlet points out today in a group that she shares with journalists.
Rappler, a media outlet critical of President Rodrigo Duterte and for this reason his Administration has sponsored a campaign of judicial harassment to close the portal, can still appeal the decision up to the Supreme Court, the country’s highest court.
The decision of the regulatory body “is not immediately enforceable without the approval of a court,” Ressa said last night in an internal message to the rest of Rappler workers, the Philippine channel CNN reports today.
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The Philippine journalist, named in 2021 Nobel Peace Prize along with Russian journalist Dimitry Muratov for his defense of freedom of expression, founded Rappler in 2012 together with other communication professionals.
The independent portal has stood out for its work in combating disinformation and uncovering the extrajudicial killings committed during the impunity granted by the war on drugs promoted by Duterte, who this Thursday ends his only 6-year term as Philippine president.
In addition to the campaign against Rappler, Ressa is also suffering from judicial harassment and has a handful of criminal cases pending in court, in addition to an appeal of a sentence of six years and six months in prison for cyber libel.
With information from Eph
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