US senators call for release of de Lima, other women political detainees

Several American senators filed a resolution to urge governments all over the world to free women political prisoners, including Senator Leila de Lima who was detained over drug charges.

In US Senate Resolution No. 342 introduced during the 117th Congress on August 7, at least nine senators expressed the sense of the US Senate regarding  "politically motivated imprisonment of women around the world and calling on governments for the immediate release of women who are political prisoners."

It was Senator Robert Menendez who sponsored the resolution while his co-sponsors are Senators Benjamin L. Cardin; Tim Kaine; Edward J. Markey; Jeff Merkley; Brian Schatz; Chris Van Hollen; Jeanne Shaheen; and Christopher A. Coons.

The resolution was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Senators called for the release of the Philippine legislator who "remains unjustly imprisoned in the Philippines for her vocal criticism" of President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war against narcotics.

Aside from de Lima, US senators also called for release of Li Yuhan, a human rights lawyer detained for representing cases concerning freedom of access to government information, and Zhang Zhan, a citizen-journalist sentenced in prison for divulging information on COVID-19 in Wuhan, Hubei province in China.

In a statement on Sunday, de Lima said she was "deeply humbled" by US Senators' call for accountability to act with solidarity over the plight of politically harassed women globally.

“Despite the political persecution we are subjected to, we, women fighters, are still very fortunate to have champions like you who are at the forefront to make sure that we obtain justice and are able to keep on advancing our common goals for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law,” de Lima said. — DVM, GMA News