After the Philippine authorities ordered the closure of the news portal Rappler, the managing director and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa is combative.

"We will continue to do our job.

Our reporters will continue to hold the fort.

We will continue to report and we will continue to make demands," Ressa said in an online press conference.

The Filipino journalist made the order public on Wednesday during a media conference in Hawaii.

The timing of the official decree is striking.

President Rodrigo Duterte's six-year term ends on Thursday.

Maria Ressa and Rappler had reported critically about the President's "drug war" in which up to 30,000 people are said to have been killed on the mere suspicion

Till Fähnders

Political correspondent for Southeast Asia.

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The International Criminal Court therefore wants to continue investigating against Duterte.

In the press conference, Maria Ressa lamented the impunity with which the Duterte government is cracking down on Rappler and other investigative websites.

She announced that she would take legal action against the order.

The law has been weaponized in the Philippines.

"I've said it over and over again for the past six years: we've been bullied, this is intimidation, these are political tactics and we don't want to let that get us down," Ressa said.

Human Rights Watch's Phil Robertson said it was an attempt "by hook or by crook to silence Nobel Prize winner Maria Ressa and Rappler."

Claiming that it is a normal decision under the law,

be wrong.

"Anyone who's been paying attention knows that's not the case," Robertson said.

"Death by a Thousand Stitches"

The journalist described the actions of the authorities as "death by a thousand stitches".

According to her, there are currently seven cases against her and eight against Rappler.

The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday upheld a previous 2018 ruling that approving Rappler's incorporation violated the law.

These prohibit foreigners from owning media companies.

Former CNN correspondent Ressa also has American citizenship.

The journalist herself now questioned the timing of the decision against her portal.

It's probably something like a "handover" to the new government, which will take office on Thursday, she said.

The new president will be Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the 64-year-old son of the former dictator of the same name.

He was elected in May with a large majority.

Human rights activists fear that he could rule in the same authoritarian way as his father once did.

Ressa appealed to the new government to work with journalists.

"We are not your enemies," said Ressa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize last year together with Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov.

It is now up to the new government to present the evidence against the media outlet, Ressa said.

You have the opportunity to strengthen the rule of law.

During the election campaign, Marcos largely ignored critical media.

He also did not participate in any of the televised debates with the other candidates.