Philippine Authorities Allow Nobel Prize Winning Journalist To Travel To Oslo

Muhammad Irfan Published December 03, 2021 | 05:21 PM

A Philippine appeals court allowed Nobel prize winning journalist Maria Ressa to travel to Norway to personally attend the award ceremony, Philippine media reported on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2021) A Philippine appeals court allowed Nobel prize winning journalist Maria Ressa to travel to Norway to personally attend the award ceremony, Philippine media reported on Friday.

The journalist will be able to visit Oslo from December 8-12 to receive the award in person, according to the Philstar news portal. The court reportedly granted her request for travel as it found the trip "necessary and urgent."

"A thorough review of the present urgent Motion to Travel Abroad shows that Ressa successfully proved that her intended travel to Oslo, Norway, from December 8, 2021 to December 13, 2021, is necessary and urgent," the court was quoted as saying by the news portal.

However, Ressa will first need to return to the Philippines on December 2 from the United States, where she had met with her family and attended lectures at Harvard University, Philstar noted.

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."

In 2020, a Manila court convicted Ressa of libel and she is currently facing other charges, including evasion of taxes. The charges have been preventing her from traveling to Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony scheduled to be held on December 10.

On Monday, the United Nations called on the Philippine government to allow Ressa to travel to Oslo for the ceremony.