MANILA, Philippines — Journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, who was arrested on a libel complaint, accused President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration of acting like a dictatorship and using the law as a weapon to muzzle dissent. She was arrested Wednesday over a libel complaint from a businessman. Duterte’s government has said the arrest was a normal step in response to the complaint and had nothing to do with press freedom. Ressa said the complaint had previously been dismissed by the National Bureau of Investigation and then “magically reappeared” under Duterte’s Department of Justice. The article that spawned the libel complaint included allegations that the businessman was linked to illegal drugs, human trafficking and a murder case, citing an unspecified intelligence report.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 16, 2019 01:07 UTC