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Filipinos angry as star lawyer Clooney defends former president Arroyo

Star lawyer, who is also wife of the Hollywood actor George, claims the detained former president's rights have been violated

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Ex-leader Gloria Arroyo (left) and rights lawyer Amal Clooney

Filipinos have reacted with disbelief to reports that star international lawyer Amal Clooney had filed a complaint to a UN human rights body on behalf of detained former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has been repeatedly denied medical treatment abroad for a rare bone disease.

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The 67-year-old former leader Arroyo has been under hospital arrest since 2011 on charges of vote-rigging and corruption and is being held in a government hospital where she is receiving treatment for her spinal problem.

Earlier this week Arroyo's lawyers announced that the wife of Hollywood movie star George Clooney had filed the case last month at the Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a unit of the UN Commission on Human rights.

Attorney Modesto Ticman said Clooney argued Arroyo's rights were being violated because she has been repeatedly denied bail and the chance to travel abroad to get treatment.

Arroyo's lawyer Larry Gadon claimed Clooney was also demanding an apology and compensation for "arbitrary detention" and "political persecution".

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However, other legal experts in the Philippines criticised Clooney's move.

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