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Who is Maria Ressa?

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Ressa, the chief executive of Rappler and a 2018 Time Person of the Year, has been indicted multiple times on libel and tax evasion charges that critics have described as politically motivated and designed to silence independent media in the southeast Asian country.

She has been a journalist in Asia for over three decades, previously working for CNN before starting Rappler, an online news site that has since become an indispensable source of information for readers in the Philippines and internationally.

Prior to this, she managed ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, the largest multi-platform news operation in the Philippines, according to her Rappler author profile. Over the years she has been honored multiple times -- one of her more recent accolades was the Knight International Journalism Award from the International Committee for Journalists in 2018.

Rappler said authorities attempted to stop some of its journalists from filming the proceedings against Ressa on Wednesday, and that one officer who declined to give his name to reporters threatened to "go after you too."

CNN attempted to reach the Philippines NBI by phone but the bureau did not pick up.

Rappler's extensive reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on drugs has earned praise from human rights advocates, but has made the site and rits journalists a target by supporters of the Duterte administration.

Some of the charges allege that the company failed to declare about $3 million in 2015 on tax returns from an investment by the Omidyar Network, a fund created by eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar.

"I've long run out of synonyms for the word 'ridiculous.' The basis of this case is that Rappler is classified as a dealer in securities. I am definitely not a stockbroker," Ressa told CNN after news of those charges broke.

Source : CNN.com