We remember on International Human Rights Day (IHRD) four years ago, our communications officer Lady Ann “Icy” Salem was reported missing at 9 am. She remained missing for several more hours until she was found at the Philippines’ police national headquarters. She was arrested at 2 am that day with six other activists in different locations and they would later be known as the Human Rights Day 7. She would then be held incommunicado for five days. For a month, she would be transferred from one detention to another, hampering communication with her lawyers and colleagues and putting her legal defence at a disadvantage.
A month before her arrest, Icy helped organize our Biennial Conference, held online for the first time due to COVID-19 restrictions that year. Days before her detention, she launched our 16 Days for Activism online campaign. Over an hour before her arrest, she chatted with then-IAWRT President Violet Gonda to complete the last of the 16 stories. Icy never got to publish that story.
But as poetic justice would have it, the cases against Icy were swiftly dismissed. It was one of the fastest case dismissals and one of the shortest detention for political prisoners, whereas others in the country were jailed for five to seven years on average.
Recently, the Philippines’ Supreme Court notified Icy’s lawyers that the government’s appeal on the dismissed cases against her has been referred to the Court En Banc (the whole Supreme Court). We eagerly await the swift resolution of this case in Icy’s favor, as did the trial court and the Court of Appeals. We hope that with the resolution of the case at the SC level, this tumultuous chapter in Icy’s personal and professional life will now come to a close.
Icy was jailed for almost three months on planted evidence and fabricated cases, but the case has hung over her for four years running. This only demonstrates how the power and resources of the state can be mobilized against an ordinary citizen, a journalist, or an activist. This is not an isolated case.
IAWRT Philippines member Frenchie Mae Cumpio remains in jail. She was arrested through a pre-dawn police raid, planted evidence, defective search warrants, and trumped-up charges, same with Icy and almost a hundred others in the country that pandemic year.
Frenchie is one of 47 women journalists in jail around the world. She is also the youngest. We ardently hope that Frenchie gets released before her 26th birthday on January 23 or her 5th year in jail on February 7 or another IHRD. One more day in prison on fabricated cases is one day too long.
Also on IHRD 2020, IAWRT Afghanistan Malalai Maiwand and her driver were killed. The situation of women journalists has worsened since, and our IAWRT Afghanistan chapter is now in exile.
In Bangladesh and Iraq, our members face threats to their safety and state suppression of freedom of expression. In Gaza, of the over 130 journalists killed in Israeli attacks, at least 12 of them are women. The situation of journalists specifically women journalists has never been so embattled and difficult ever before, with the state being a major actor in silencing and oppressing them.
On International Human Rights Day and the culmination of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based violence, we call for justice for persecuted women journalists across the world.
