SUPPORTERS of detained activist Amanda Echanis yesterday submitted 143 appeal letters to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla calling for her release.
Echanis is the daughter of slain Anakpawis leader Randall Echanis.
Tao Avez, convener of the Free Amanda Echanis Movement (FAEM), said the letters came from artists, writers, members of the academe, musicians, food security advocates, and local and international organizations.
Echanis, a writer and organizer of the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, was apprehended on Dec. 2, 2020 in Baggao, Cagayan by troops from the Army’s 77th Infantry Battalion and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. She is facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives and is detained at the Cagayan Provincial Jail in Tuguegarao City.
Her arrest came in the middle of an intensified crackdown against human rights activists and red-tagging under the Duterte administration.
Avez said they are calling for the ”junking of her case due to baseless allegations.”
“We need to keep the pressure on the authorities. It’s been nearly three years since Amanda was arrested on baseless allegations,” Avez said, adding they hope for Remulla’s “positive response to upholding justice, the rule of law, and human rights.”
