<p>PROMINENT rights lawyer Amal Clooney said she will join the legal team defending Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, whose news site has repeatedly clashed with President Rodrigo Duterte.</p> <p>Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” in 2018 for her journalism, faces several criminal charges along with her website Rappler, in what press freedom advocates have branded an act of “persecution”.</p>