Liberal International (LI) – the global federation of liberal parties – is giving its Prize for Freedom to Senator Leila de Lima, whom the organization described as a “political prisoner” and a critic of authoritarian President Rodrigo Duterte. In its news release of Tuesday, 30 October 2017, the LI said “Politicians from around the world voted to award Liberal International’s highest human rights honor – the Prize for Freedom – to imprisoned Philippines political prisoner, Senator Leila de Lima,” it said. “Senator De Lima, a vocal and ardent critic [of] the Philippines authoritarian president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called ‘war of drugs’, has been held in pre-trial detention on politically motivated charges since February 2017” .
De Lima is presently detained at the Philippine National Police’s (PNP), Quezon City over allegations that she was involved in the illegal drug trade inside that national penitentiary during her stint as Justice secretary. De Lima has repeatedly denied the charges against her, saying she is a victim of political persecution.
For more info on this award and another 18 awards with ‘freedom’ in their name: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/
Source: De Lima gets human rights award | News | GMA News Online
This entry was posted on November 1, 2017 at 20:08 and is filed under awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, THF.
Tags: detention, digest of human rights awards, Duterte, human rights award, Leila de Lima, Liberal International, Philippines, Prize for Freedom (LI), trumped up charges, woman human rights defender
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