UN rapporteur asks SC to be amicus curiae in Maria Ressa cyber libel case

UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan on Monday asked the Supreme Court to allow her to appear as amicus curiae in the cyber libel case of Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa. 

According to a press briefer, Khan’s amicus curiae brief will provide the SC with international and regional legal standards on freedom of expression, especially regarding the law on defamation.

Khan is supposedly concerned that the law in the country fails to protect the right to freedom of expression.

“In particular, the Cybercrime Prevention Act raises serious concerns that it limits the ability of journalists to expose, document, and address issues of important public interest, thereby violating the right to receive and impart information,” the briefer read.

Khan is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights to Freedom of Opinion and Expression.

According to the Cornell Law School, an amicus curiae or “friend of the court” will petition a court for permission to submit a brief in the action intending to influence a court’s decision. The briefs are called “amicus briefs.”

In July 2022, the Court of Appeals upheld the Manila Regional Trial Court's decision in 2020 to convict Ressa and former Rappler researcher Rey Santos Jr. of cyber libel.

The CA later denied Ressa and Santos’ appeal of the ruling. —NB, GMA Integrated News