The award-winning Filipino journalist Maria Ressa has been hit with another lawsuit following tax evasion charges brought against her in November. She now faces libel charges over an article published in 2012 allegedly containing “defamatory” content.

The department of justice ordered the indictment of news website Rappler Inc, Ressa as CEO and executive editor, and former reporter and author of the article, Reynaldo Santos Jr, in a decision made public on Tuesday.

The contentious story uncovered businessman Wilfredo Keng’s alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation’s top court. Keng had filed the complaint in October 2017, more than five years after the story was published.

The charges carry up to 12 years’ jail.

Ressa was named a Person of the Year by Time Magazine in 2018 and won numerous other prestigious awards. She is currently out on bail for alleged tax fraud after she had surrendered to authorities in December.

“Ridiculous is tame to describe this latest weaponisation of the law: the story was published four months before the law we allegedly violated was enacted,” she tweeted in response to the charges.

The move by the justice department was slammed by international rights organisations. Reporters Without Borders condemned the “absurd charges” while Amnesty International demanded and end to the “harassment of Maria Ressa”.

“The judicial harassment used by President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration to persecute Rappler’s journalists is becoming grotesque,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “It would be almost laughable if it weren’t for the terrible judicial precedent that this decision would set, if upheld. We urge the court that handles this case to show independence and wisdom by dismissing it once and for all.”

President Rodrigo Duterte has denied accusations of harassment. “I don’t give a shit if you continue or not continue with your network,” he was reported as saying in 2018.