Civil and political rights

Opposition members in Kampong Chhnang say they have been banned from meeting since the arrest of CNRP leader Kem Sokha on Sunday, with the provincial police chief yesterday saying he would “not allow” the party to “discuss politics”. ...

International condemnation of the government’s aggressive pursuit of a tax dispute with the Cambodia Daily continued to pour in yesterday, with the US Embassy in Phnom Penh calling the closure of the hard-hitting newspaper a “sad day for the press and for Cambodia”. ...

After 24 years of fiercely independent journalism, the Cambodia Daily will publish their final edition today due to an “exorbitant” $6.3 million tax bill levelled at them last month – an outcome critics say threatens Cambodia’s free press ahead of next year’s crucial national election. ...

The Cambodia Daily yesterday said it was under “siege” and continued to call the government’s targeting of the newspaper an attack on press freedom, as five radio station owners that had been ordered to shut stop attempted to resume their services. // //   ...

The Ministry of Information has closed down multiple radio stations that have been renting airtime to the opposition CNRP party and to two radio news organisations that have been under fire from the government. ...

The National Assembly’s permanent committee on Monday approved further study of amendments to Cambodia’s election law that would allow more than 1 million migrant workers to vote from outside the country’s borders. ...

The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia condemned the government’s recent violent rhetoric, court action against politicians and attacks against NGOs that have ramped up ahead of a key national election next year, arguing that the country appeared to be “approaching a precipice.” ...

Khmer Power Party head and former convicted “terrorist” Sourn Serey Ratha was arrested yesterday over a Facebook post criticising the deployment of troops to the Laos border by suggesting that grunts in the field would suffer while the military’s leaders hung back to enjoy “money” ...

Political commentator Kim Sok was sentenced to 18 months in prison this afternoon on charges of incitement and defamation for appearing to suggest that the ruling party was behind the killing of popular analyst Kem Ley. ...

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision to deny jailed political analyst Kim Sok’s request for bail, also rejecting his request to summons Prime Minister Hun Sen, the plaintiff in the two defamation and incitement cases that landed the analyst in detention. ...

CNRP President Kem Sokha has promised opposition supporters among the Cham Muslim community that any government he leads would put an end to political harassment from the community’s pro-CPP leaders, whom he claimed pressured followers not to join his party. ...

Cambodia Youth Party leader Pich Sros filed a complaint today at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court against Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Kem Sokha in response to the latter’s encouragement of voters not to “waste” their votes on small parties. ...

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak’s pre-election warning that some NGOs and their leaders were being watched for illegally aiding the opposition was a threat designed to frighten them, General Sopheak said on Wednesday, as civil society groups warily condemned the statements. ...

Australian national James Ricketson was arrested on Saturday, according to police officials, with local media claiming the independent journalist was detained for “stealing information”. ...

The Ministry of Health yesterday denied a local media report that children in Cambodia under one year old have a 50 percent chance of catching whooping cough. ...

Local residents in Battambang town took part in a political debate organized by U.S. Democracy promotion group, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) on Monday ahead of local elections early next month. Attendees asked prospective candidates questions related to citizen’s concerns over unemployment, migration, ...

Political campaigning in Cambodia’s local elections began on Saturday and has so far passed without incident. Cambodians in Phnom Penh on Monday said they hoped that the election could be conducted fairly and free of violence. Sim To, a second-year student at Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia, ...

The CPP has filed a complaint to a commune election committee in Takeo province alleging that a group of CNRP supporters obstructed a ruling party parade of about 400 supporters on Saturday, officials said yesterday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen used a news conference at Thursday’s World Economic Forum on Asean in Phnom Penh to warn that two foreign-owned news outlets, including The Cambodia Daily, were “against” the government and that journalists who did not report “properly” would be seen as ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday released a strongly worded, albeit vague, rebuttal to a harsh report released by ASEAN parliamentarians on Monday, which chided the government for its legal onslaught against the opposition and alleged the “systematic dismantling [of] democracy” in the Kingdom. ...

Every Cambodian will be assigned a 10-digit identification number under which information from various government departments, as well as the private sector, will be collected in a central database, Interior Minister Sar Kheng announced on Thursday.   ...

Many of the news media’s favorite political analysts aren’t picking up their telephones. They say they are busy with work, traveling abroad or focusing on their studies. ...

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy has denounced current world governments’ surveillance legislation, calling for respect for citizens’ rights to privacy.   ...

Cambodia ranked 157th in the world and last in Southeast Asia, according to the report, released on Tuesday by NGO Open Data Watch, dropping four points since last year to a total score of 22 out of 100.​​ ...