Rappler CEO Maria Ressa faces the media following her acquittal of the fifth and final tax evasion charge against her and Rappler Holdings Corp at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on September 12, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA -- The Supreme Court has allowed the participation of United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan in the cyberlibel case of Rappler Chief Executive Officer Maria Ressa. 

Pending before the high court is the appeal of Ressa and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos, Jr. on their cyberlibel conviction handed down by a Manila court in 2020.

In a notice by the Supreme Court 1st Division dated January 24, 2024, Khan was allowed to appear as an "amicus curiae" or friend of the court.

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The Supreme Court also admitted the amicus brief of Khan who is currently serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and of Expression.

Rappler said Khan’s brief will provide the Supreme Court the international and legal standards as they apply to freedom of expression, especially regarding its application to the law of defamation. 

Rappler noted that according to Khan’s briefer, she is "concerned" that the law in the Philippines fails to adequately protect the right to freedom of expression under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Ressa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Santos were found guilty of cyberlibel by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 for an article on businessman Wilfredo Keng.

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Sentenced to suffer imprisonment of six months to six years, Ressa and Santos are currently out on bail.

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