Philippine journalist Maria Ressa arrested in Manila

Award-winning journalist Maria Ressa, a high-profile figure on the issue of media freedom in the Philippines, has been arrested in Manila.

Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler.Credit: AP

Ressa,  the chief executive of news website Rappler, was taken into custody at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, according to ABS-CBN News, for a violation of the so-called "anti-dummy" law.

She had been arrested in February on cyber-libel charges but then released after a global outcry.

Rappler has reported critically on the Philippine's strongman president Rodrigo Duterte in recent years, making Ressa a target of the government. Ressa is an internationally known journalist, whose battles with Duterte are seen as a indicative of a wider authoritarian crackdown on media.

Ressa and several other executives of the website were charged by government prosecutors for breaching the "anti-dummy" law by allowing a foreign company - US-based Omidyar Network Fund - to "intervene" in its management and operations despite a constitutional ban on foreign ownership of media.

The charges were filed on March 20, according to court documents released to media on Wednesday.

Ressa, one of Time Magazine's Persons of the Year in 2018, is separately facing tax evasion and online libel cases which she refutes.

The site, which Duterte once called a 'fake news outlet,' was ordered shut by the Securities and Exchange Commission last year for the same foreign ownership issue. However, the Court of Appeals told the commission last month to review its closure order, saying the foreign control appeared to have been removed after Omidyar donated its depository receipts to the site's local managers.

with Bloomberg