Anger in the Philippines as 'political prisoner' denied the right to hold her dying baby

The harsh treatment of a young human rights worker whose newborn baby died while she was in jail on what her supporters claim are trumped up charges has sparked widespread anger in the Philippines.

River, the three-month-old daughter of Reina Mae Nasino, tragically died of pneumonia just weeks after she was torn from her inconsolable mother despite a concerted campaign to keep the pair together and allow the infant to be nurtured and breastfed.

The controversy has gripped a country where the contrast of the alleged VIP treatment of rich and well-connected prison inmates has already sparked deep-seated resentment within the general population.

Ms Nasino, 23, who worked for the urban poverty group Kadamay, was arrested in November 2019 during a mass crackdown by President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration on dozens of Left-leaning activists.

She and two colleagues in the same office were charged with the illegal possession of firearms and explosives, which all three denied and said were planted by the authorities as a pretext to jail them.

Ms Nasino only discovered she was pregnant after her arrest, and campaigners persisted without success in appealing for her release, arguing that she had been jailed for political reasons.

She gave birth on July 1. The child was underweight and, along with the support of National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL), her mother pleaded for them to be allowed to remain together for six months.

That request was denied, as was an urgent plea for permission to be with River to hold and comfort the baby when her health began to rapidly deteriorate and she lay dying in hospital from a bacterial infection in her lungs in early October.

A new wave of public anger over the cruelty of the situation was unleashed this week after the prison challenged a court order to grant Ms Nasino a three-day furlough to attend River’s wake and funeral.

Jail officials fought to shorten the period from three days to two, citing a lack of personnel, and Ms Nasino’s release on Wednesday morning has now become a media spectacle.

“The reduction of political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino's furlough is a ‘merciless act of torture and injustice’,” human rights alliance Karapatan said in a statement.

Maria Ressa, a prominent journalist and government critic, said there had been a “tragic mishandling,” of Ms Nasino’s case.

“Courts and the law are not just supposed to act for government. They are there to protect the rights of each Filipino,” she tweeted.

Multiple rights groups have now asked for compassionate leave to allow Ms Nasino to grieve with her family.

“We assert our call for the compassionate release of Reina Mae from prison to correct this blatant injustice done to her and her baby who was never given a chance to live,” said Kapatid, a support group for political prisoners, according to the Philippine Inquirer.

Others have called for an overhaul of the rules governing the imprisonment of mothers and their babies.

“No words can suffice for this monstrous lack of compassion by this rotten system for the baby and her mother,” said Arlene Brosas, a child’s rights activist and member of the House of Representatives.