Marianne Björklund: Duterte wants to silence a critical journalist

– Maria Ressa is one of the Philippine's most famous journalists. She has been named people of the year by Time magazine, and I worked a long time for CNN before she co-founded the news site Rappler.

On Friday arrested her on the grounds that she violated Philippine laws that the media is not allowed to have foreign owners. In the past she has been accused for tax evasion and in February was arrested she suspected of nätförtal.

– Ressa time and time again grips is basically a tougher media climate in the Philippines, where the regime is seeking to intimidate critical voices into silence. Rappler has been a thorn in the side of the Dutertes rule and has not at least reviewed the president's controversial drogkrig, that in the last three years have taken an estimated 5,000 people's lives.

– Rappler has also, to the Dutertes irritation, made its mission to regularly check the veracity of the claims that will from the president. This type of reporting does not fall in the good soil of the regime. ”Fake news”, Duterte utbrustit on Trumpspråk and lamented that it is written too little about the good things he has achieved.

– Ressa was released later on Friday, for the seventh time, against the bail.

– Rappler denies allegations of having violated the law on foreign ownership and pressfrihetsorganisationer see the arrest as a way to intimidate independent journalists. The arrest shows that the Duterte decided to shut down the Rapplers website because of its credible reporting on the government, says Human Rights Watch.

– Vigilant media has been increasingly difficult to operate in the Philippines under president Duterte. Rappler is a media company engaged in open, critical journalism against the regime.

– In the Reporters without borders ranking of press freedom last year, the ports of the Philippines on the unflattering spot 133 of 180 countries. At the same time, lists the Committee to protect journalists (CPJ), the Philippines as the fifth most dangerous country in the world for journalists. Since 1986, the 176 journalists have been murdered in the country.

To Duterte some years ago commented that some of the deserved to die, attracted a lot of attention.