UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2021) The United Nations calls on the Philippine government to allow journalist Maria Ressa to travel to Oslo, Norway, to receive her Nobel Peace prize award next month, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
Ressa, a Filipino-American journalist known for her reporting on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, was awarded Nobel Prize in October along with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression."
"We are indeed very concerned about the travel restrictions placed by the government of Philippines on Maria Ressa, preventing her from traveling in person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize," Dujarric said during a press briefing. "We urge the government of the Philippines to immediately withdraw any such restrictions and allow her to travel to Oslo."
In 2020, a Manila court convicted Ressa of libel and she is currently facing other charges, including evasion of taxes. The charges are preventing her from traveling to Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony scheduled to be held on December 10.
