LAWYER Harry Roque has been shortlisted for the London-based Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards.
The awards given by the United Kingdom’s leading organization promoting freedom of expression are co-sponsored by the Economist, the Guardian, The Robert Gavron Trust and Bindman’s, a leading law firm in London.
Roque, chairperson of the Center for International Law, professor of law at the University of the Philippines and presidential assistant for human rights of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, is a nominee for the Bindmans Law and Campaigning Award.
The award recognizes lawyers and campaigners who have fought repression or who have struggled to change political climates and perceptions, especially in the field of freedom of expression.
Index on Censorship cited the class action suit Roque filed on behalf of several dozen journalists against First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo whose “attacks on journalists seemed a blatant attempt to intimidate the press into silence.” The Court of Appeals and Regional Trial Court have denied Arroyo’s efforts to dismiss the case.
Index on Censorship said Roque’s “success in this case, and others, should be an example to journalists and human rights lawyers throughout the rest of Southeast Asia. His victory reveals that determination and resistance can win freedom of the Press, even under the oppression of arbitrary power.”
Roque is nominated alongside Egyptian human rights champion Gamal Eid, director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information who was recently deported from Jordan; Zimbabwean lawyer Harrison Nkomo who has defended high-profile journalists and campaigners and been arrested himself; and Malaysia’s Malik Imtiaz who is a leading figure in fighting law suits against journalists and bloggers.
Roque is also involved in the damage suit filed by the journalists who were processed and detained by the police for covering the Manila Peninsula Hotel standoff between the police and opposition figures. He also initiated an effort to challenge before the United Nations Human Rights Committee the criminal nature of libel as being contrary to freedom of expression based on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Index on Censorship also gives the Journalism Award, New Media Award, Film Award and Book Award. The winners will be announced on April 21.
(Several VERA Files trustees are among the journalists who sued Mr. Arroyo. A number of them are also petitioners in the damage suit filed in connection with the Manila Peninsula standoff.)