Renowned international lawyer Amal Clooney, the wife of Academy Award winner George Clooney, is urging the United Nations to act swiftly on a human rights petition she filed on behalf of former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Arroyo is under hospital arrest for charges of plunder involving the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes.
Clooney's case, filed before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), accused the Philippine government of violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) when it detained the 67-year old Arroyo, who is suffering from ill health.
The lawyer, previously an adviser to former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, was reportedly approached by the Arroyo camp to file the petition.
The petition, jointly filed by Clooney and Arroyo's legal team, calls on the UN to grant the temporary release of Arroyo so that the former president may seek treatment abroad "to avoid irreparable damage to her health."
It asks the UN to push for a full investigation into the charges against Arroyo before the Sandiganbayan, the Philippines' anti-corruption court, and to allow the former president unrestricted access to means of communication, including mobile phones and internet.
If Clooney's petition is granted, the Philippine government could also amend its laws on cases without bail.
Plunder is a non-bailable crime in the Philippines but Arroyo's lawyers earlier argued that the courts have decided to grant bail to Arroyo's co-accused, Sergio Valencia, Manuel Morato and Raymundo Roquero, all former officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), because the prosecution failed to produce sufficient evidence to support their allegations against them.
"Despite a hectic schedule flying back and forth from Hollywood and London for her wedding to famous actor George Clooney, Amal continued her work to bring GMA's (Arroyo) continued imprisonment to the attention of the world body," Carmen Pedrosa, a columnist from The Star said in her article.
She continued that if Clooney's petition is granted, it could set a precedent for other human rights violations cases involving Filipinos.
