Top Philippine drug war critic arrested

MANILA (AFP) — The highest-profile critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug war was arrested Friday on charges supporters said were meant to silence her, but she vowed to keep campaigning against killings and “repression.”

In comments to journalists moments before police detained her following an overnight vigil at her office, Senator Leila de Lima insisted she was innocent of the drug trafficking charges that could see her jailed for life.

“It is my honor to be imprisoned for the things I am fighting for. Please pray for me,” De Lima told reporters outside her Senate office.

“As I have been saying all along, I am innocent. There is no truth to the charges I benefited from the drug trade, that I received money and that I coddled drug convicts.