MANILA, Philippines — Rights advocacy group Karapatan on Saturday reiterated calls to release journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Karapatan member Alexander Philip Abinguna, and Marielle Domequil, a staffer of a church group.
This came after UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan visited the three who are detained in the Tacloban City Jail.
READ: 3 years on: Groups reignite call to release Tacloban journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio
According to Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay, the arrest and detention of the three individuals was a case of using red-tagging against frontliners for freedom of expression.
“Their unjust arrest and detention, since February 2020, is one of the most glaring cases of how far the policy and practice of red-tagging, filing of trumped up charges, and political imprisonment and persecution is used against frontliners for freedom of expression and opinion in the country,” Palabay said in a statement.
The group also expressed hope that calls to release political prisoners would be heard after Khan’s visit to the country.
“We hope that with Ms. Khan’s visit, their voices will continue to be heard,” she added.
Karapatan added that the government was treating the three individuals as criminals, denying them their rights and freedoms by prolonging their detention.
“The Philippine government is trying so hard to turn the tables on Cumpio, Abinguna, and Domequil, along with other victims of trumped up charges and unjust arrest, by demonizing them and treating them as criminals, making every possible move to deny them of their rights and freedoms, prolonging their detention, and preventing local and international observers to visit them in jail or monitor their court hearings,” the group added.
In 2020, Cumpio, Abinguna, and Domequil, along with two others, were arrested on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
READ: UN rapporteur on freedom of expression arrives in PH