Human rights groups condemn conviction of Filipina journalist for terrorism

Human rights and press freedom advocates in the Philippines condemned the conviction of a 26-year-old community journalist and radio broadcaster, who was found guilty of financing terrorism and sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in jail by a regional trial court on Thursday.

- Angel Tesorero

Filipina journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio (right) and human rights worker Marielle Domequil were found guilty of financing terrorism by a regional trial court on Thursday

(PHOTO: TINAY PALABAY/ KARAPATAN)

Frenchie Mae Cumpio is the first Filipina journalist prosecuted under the Philippine anti-terror financing laws. She and her co-accused, Marielle Domequil, however, were both acquitted of charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

International organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the #FreeFrenchieMaeCumpio coalition of international press freedom organisations condemned the conviction of Cumpio, who can go to jail for up to 18 years.

Cumpio, who will turn 27 on January 23, was arrested in February 2020 after Philippine troops raided her boarding house in the middle of the night and allegedly found a hand grenade, a firearm, and a communist flag under her pillow.

“The guilty verdict for ‘financing terrorism’ is a clear miscarriage of justice,” RSF underscored, following its independent investigation.