{"id":2455,"date":"2020-12-16T07:32:08","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T07:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=139823"},"modified":"2020-12-16T07:32:08","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T07:32:08","slug":"rsf-protests-over-arrest-of-filipina-journalist-for-planted-firearms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/16\/rsf-protests-over-arrest-of-filipina-journalist-for-planted-firearms\/","title":{"rendered":"RSF protests over arrest of Filipina journalist for \u2018planted firearms\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Lady Ann \u201cIcy\u201d Salem is seen during her arrest on 10 December 2020. Image: Altermidya\/RSF<\/div>\n
\n

Pacific Media Watch<\/a> newsdesk<\/em><\/p>\n

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) demands the immediate and unconditional release of Lady Ann Salem<\/strong>, a Manila-based alternative journalist who was arrested on a firearms charge at the end of a raid on her home in which the police planted the evidence.<\/p>\n

The co-founder of the alternative media network Altermidya and editor of the Manila Today<\/em> news site, Salem \u2013 also known as \u201cIcy\u201d Salem \u2013 is now facing up to 20 years in prison on a trumped-up charge of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, a charge that does not allow release on bail.<\/p>\n

When the police arrived at her home in a Manila suburb at around 9 am on December 10, they refused to let her contact her lawyer and made her turn her face to the wall while they carried out a search.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I was forced to turn my back for an hour, they planted the evidence,\u201d she managed to tell another journalist<\/a> as she was being led away to a police vehicle.<\/p>\n

The police claim they found four .45 pistols and four grenades during the search.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police clearly planted the evidence to incriminate \u2018Icy\u2019 Salem in an utterly shameless manner,\u201d said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF\u2019s Asia-Pacific desk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn view of their shocking methods, we demand this journalist\u2019s immediate and unconditional release. This latest attack on independent media by the Philippine authorities just discredits President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s government on the international stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Red-tagging\u2019
<\/strong>The police used exactly the same method when they arrested Frenchie Mae Cumpio<\/strong><\/a>, the editor of the Eastern Vista<\/em> news website in the eastern city of Tacloban on February 7. Police officers planted firearms in her home when carrying out her arrest.<\/p>\n

Like Manila Today, Eastern Vista<\/em> is part of the Altermidya network of alternative media outlets that are committed to independent journalism and to defending the most marginalised sectors of Philippine society.<\/p>\n

As a result, they are routinely branded as communist by the authorities, a process known as \u201cred-tagging.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hangover from the Cold War and, before that, from when the country was a US colony, \u201cred-tagging\u201d is a typically Philippine practice under which dissenting individuals or groups, including journalists and media outlets, are identified to the police and paramilitaries as legitimate targets for arbitrary arrest or, worse still, summary execution.<\/p>\n

Relentless war
<\/strong>During a parliamentary hearing on December 1<\/a>, the government-run National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) formally labelled members of the Altermidya network as violent communist activists without presenting a \u201cshred of evidence\u201d in support of this claim.<\/p>\n

Altermidya is the latest victim of the Duterte administration\u2019s relentless war against independent media. Its targets include Maria Ressa<\/a>, the founder and CEO of the independent news website Rappler<\/em>, who had to post bail and appear in court<\/a> on December 4 as a result of a new warrant for her arrest<\/a> on a charge of online criminal defamation.<\/p>\n

Ressa is currently the subject of at least eight different cases by various government agencies.<\/p>\n

Last July, the irascible and authoritarian president\u2019s supporters in congress drove the final nails into the coffin<\/a> of the country\u2019s biggest radio and TV network, ABS-CBN, by refusing to give it a new franchise<\/a>, after previously refusing to extend its 25-year franchise<\/a> when it expired in May.<\/p>\n

The Philippines is ranked 136th out of 180 countries in RSF\u2019s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Print<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lady Ann \u201cIcy\u201d Salem is seen during her arrest on 10 December 2020. Image: Altermidya\/RSF Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) demands the immediate and unconditional\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[789,5,790,791,792,793,794,795,94,652,4,12,796,797,13,14,798,799],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions\/2456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}