THE UN Special Rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, has expressed a strong view against the decision of the Court of Appeals to uphold, and even increase the penalty on, the criminal conviction of Maria Ressa for cyberlibel. Khan minced no words when she said, 'The criminalization of journalists for libel impedes public interest reporting and is incompatible with the right to freedom of expression. Criminal libel law has no place in a democratic country and should be repealed.' Khan, not content with slamming our system of laws, further demeaned our courts when she said, wrongly I must impress, that the criminal cyberlibel law, objectionable as it is already for her, was retroactively applied thereby violating Ressa's fundamental rights. Khan effectively was lecturing our entire judicial system on how to interpret our laws.