Philippines allows Nobel laureate to go to Norway

The news website Rappler announced on Friday that the Philippines Court of Appeals would allow its CEO Maria Ressa to visit the Norwegian capital, Oslo, to personally accept her Nobel Peace Prize for 2021.

Ressa, who is under travel restrictions because of the legal cases she faces in the Philippines, was jointly awarded the prize in an effort to "safeguard freedom of expression."

What did the court decide?

Rappler said that the court's three judges had ruled that the travel for a Nobel Prize was "necessary and urgent."

That decision deviates from previous rulings that Ressa was not allowed to travel abroad for journalism awards, the screening of a documentary, and a visit to her sick mother.

"Under the circumstances, Ressa cannot just utilize any available technological application, and the necessity of her presence at the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony is reasonably explained," Rappler reported the judges as saying.

"In fact, there is no option, for her to virtually receive the award, or through a representative," said the resolution.

The court rejected government lawyers' claims that Ressa, who returned to the Philippines on Thursday after a court-approved trip to the United States, was a "flight risk."

Ressa is on bail pending an appeal against a conviction last year in a cyber libel case. For that alleged offense, she faces up to six years in prison. Rappler's license has been suspended and Ressa faces legal action for various reasons.

After the decision, a lawyer for Ressa he was now "confident" the journalist would be allowed to collect the award in person.

Rare Nobel for journalists

Ressa is the first Nobel laureate from the Philippines and she shares the Peace Prize with Russian investigative journalist Dmitry Muratov.

This year's Nobel Peace Prize is the first for journalists since 1935, when the German Carl von Ossietzky won it for documenting the country's post-war rearmament program.

The United Nation on Monday had urged the Philippines to allow Ressa to travel to Norway next month to accept the award.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, had said the United Nations was "very concerned" about travel restrictions placed on Ressa.

Who are Ressler and Rappler?

Former CNN correspondent Ressa co-founded the Philippine online news website Rappler in Manila in 2012 along with a group of fellow Filipino journalists.

It had started as a Facebook page named MovePH in 2011, before evolving into a complete website at the start of 2012.

Ressa's supporters say she has been targeted for her scrutiny of government policies, including President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs.

Rights groups estimate that tens of thousands of mostly poor men have been killed in security operations.

Rappler published shocking images of the killings and posed questions about their legal basis.

The chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, said Rappler has "focused critical attention on the Duterte regime's controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign."

"The number of deaths is so high that the campaign resembles a war waged against the country's own population," Reiss-Andersen added.

Ressa and Rappler have also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse.

Slide down press freedom rankings

The Philippines government has denied persecuting the media and says it believed in free speech.

However, the 2021 World Press Freedom Index showed the Philippines dropping two notches to 138 out of 180 countries.

The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks the Philippines seventh in the world in its impunity index, which tracks the deaths of journalists whose killers go free.

The Philippines government has denied persecuting the media and says it believes in free speech.

rc/rt (AFP, Reuters)