International Federation Of Journalists Condemns Assault On US Journalist In Philippines

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2019) The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Monday condemned last week's assault on a US journalist living and working in the Philippines as yet another attack on freedom of speech.

Brandon Lee, a journalist with Northern Dispatch Weekly, was shot in the head and in the back last Tuesday after he picked up his daughter from school in the northern Philippine province of Ifugao. He survived and is recuperating at a local hospital.

"We have condemned attack and also ongoing threats against journalists and media organisations in the Philippines. We call on the authorities to investigate the assault immediately and to ensure that those responsible.

.. are found and brought to justice," the watchdog said.

Lee was among human rights defenders accused by the Philippine military of supporting the communist militia in 2015, according to the IFJ. It has repeatedly criticized the Southeast Asian nation's right-wing government of "red-tagging" its critics.

The administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been under international scrutiny over what is believed to be thousands of extrajudicial killings in the name of a three-year "war on drugs," in which dissenting voices have increasingly been silenced.