US lawmakers meet detained Philippine human rights crusader and top Duterte critic, Leila De Lima
- Senator Edward Markey met former Leila De Lima in her high-security detention cell in Manila where she has been for five years on alleged drugs-related charges
- Former President Rodrigo Duterte had banned Markey from the Philippines after he called for De Lima’s release and raised alarm over human rights violations
United States Senator Edward Markey, who was once banned in the Philippines by former President Rodrigo Duterte, on Friday, met a long-detained Filipino opposition leader, whom he says was wrongfully imprisoned under Duterte and should be freed.
Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and a group of US legislators, met former Senator Leila De Lima for more than an hour in her high-security detention cell in the main police camp in Metropolitan Manila, according to her lawyer, Filibon Tacardon, and police.
Details of their court-authorised meeting were not immediately available.
Duterte had banned Markey and two other American legislators from travelling to the Philippines after they called for De Lima’s release and raised alarm over human rights violations under his presidency. Duterte’s turbulent six-year term ended in June.
The former president’s brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead, has sparked an investigation by the International Criminal Court.
Duterte was succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, who took office on June 30 following a landslide election victory with his vice-presidential running mate Sara Duterte, the former president’s daughter.