A court in the Philippines convicted journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio of financing terrorism and sentenced her to at least 12 years in prison in a ruling that has sparked outrage among press freedom advocates.
Cumpio, a 26-year-old reporter from the central Philippines, was arrested in February 2020 after soldiers stormed her boarding house during a late-night raid. Authorities claimed to have discovered a grenade, a gun, and a communist flag inside her room. Her lawyers said she was being targeted with “trumped up” cases.
