Amal Clooney to defend journalist Maria Ressa, one of Rodrigo Duterte’s fiercest critics, on charges of tax evasion and libel

Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine ‘Person of the Year’ in 2018 for her journalism, faces several criminal charges along with her website Rappler

Clooney, part of the team Ressa describes as ‘Justice League’ also defended two Reuters journalists who were jailed for more than 16 months in Myanmar

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Human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:23am, 9 Jul 2019Updated: 2:15pm, 11 Jul 2019

Prominent rights lawyer Amal Clooney has said she will join the legal team defending Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, whose news site has repeatedly clashed with President Rodrigo Duterte.

Ressa, who was named a Time magazine “Person of the Year” in 2018 for her journalism, faces several criminal charges along with her website Rappler, in what press freedom advocates have branded an act of “persecution”.

Ressa told the South China Morning Post Clooney was “someone who understands all the twists and turns of the law, politics and human rights – and really respects journalists”.

Ressa described her international team, led by Clooney, as “legal luminaries, like the Justice League”, and said Clooney would work closely with the team assembled on the ground in the Philippines.

“It’s like bringing together a think tank of legal minds,” she said. “As journalists, we work for justice, and having this team now makes me feel like there has got to be some justice. We’ll do our best to get it.”