UPDATE: Ecuadoran President Pardons Daily & Journos in Libel Judgment

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El Universo, facing a $40 million libel judgment, and  four journalists looking at three-year jail terms, are breathing more easily on the news that Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has issued pardons, the Associated Press reports.

Last month, the Latin American nation's highest court upheld the libel judgment awarded the 48-year-old Correa based on a story alleging Correa ordered security forces last September to open fire in a hospital filled with civilians (see "TUOL" post 2/17/12). In what amounts to a public relations coup for Correa, but fosters a growing unease among Ecuadorian journalists concerning press freedom, the president characterized his granting of the pardons as a victory over a "corrupt press," according to a post on the iMediaEthics.org Web site.

It is unclear whether a scheduled March 28 hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding the case will go forward now that El Universo and its reporters no longer are liable for the defamation judgment, .

UPDATE: Ecuador High Court Upholds Libel Judgment for President Correa

PRESIDENTE RAFAEL CORREA EN EL CIUDADANO TV (Photo credit: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador)A $40 million libel judgment awarded last July to Ecuador's President Rafael Correa against  the El Universo daily newspaper and its ex-opinion editor Emilio Pallacio has been upheld by a three-judge panel of  the Latin American nation's highest court, CNN reports.

The 48-year-old Correa, who has led Ecuador since 2008, sued when the defendant published an article accusing him of ordering security forces last September to open fire in a hospital filled with civilians. (See "TUOL" post 1/26/12.)

The Committee to Protect Journalists blasted the court decision in a statement issued from its New York headquarters.  Pallacio, who not only is responsible for $30 million of the judgment, but also faces a three-year jail term under the court ruling, presently is seeking asylum in Miami, according to CNN.

Judge's Illness Stalls Paper's Appeal of Libel Judgment for Ecuador's President

Image via WikipediaThe Ecuadorian daily El Universo's appeal of a $40 million libel judgment in favor of  the country's President, Rafael Correa, was delayed this week by the illness of a member of the three-judge panel hearing the appeal, CNN reports.

President Correa, the 48-year-old economist who assumed leadership of the South American republic in 2008, was awarded $40 million last July in a ruling that also resulted in three-year jail terms for El Universo's former opinions editor and its directors. A column entitled No to lies that appeared in February 2011, which branded Correa a "dictator" responsible for a September 2010, attack in which security forces allegedly fired on civilians in a hospital, triggered the lawsuit by the president, who dismissed the allegations as false and  an "outrage," according to the CNN account.

President Correa has rejected El Universo's offer of a public apology conditioned, in part,  on his dropping his suit against journalists and following the nation's access to public information law. In the U.S., a government entity can't be defamed and a public official suing for libel must overcome the challenging legal hurdle of proving "actual malice," meaning that the media defendant published false statements about the official knowing they were untrue or with reckless disregard for the falsity of the statements that impugned the official's reputation.