Philippine Journalist Maria Ressa Convicted of ‘Cyber Libel’
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Philippine journalist Maria Ressa who heads the news site Rappler Inc. has been found guilty of cyber libel in the country’s first conviction of its kind involving the media, a decision seen as a blow to press freedom in the Southeast Asian nation.
A Manila court on Monday convicted Ressa, who was accused by a businessman of cyber libel for publishing an allegedly defamatory article in 2012, according to a copy of the decision. Ressa and her co-accused, former researcher Reynaldo Santos, were sentenced to up to 6 years in jail, but can post bail and appeal the ruling.