Freedom of expression

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. // //   ...

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. ...

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, ...

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 ...

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. ...

Undeterred by the $500,000 lawsuit filed against him by Prime Minister Hun Sen, political commentator Kim Sok returned to the radio waves on Tuesday to say that the government could settle the case against him by releasing video footage of Kem Ley’s murder. ...

Political commentator Kim Sok’s worldly possessions—two iPhones, an iPad and $200 in savings—may soon become Prime Minister Hun Sen’s property after the premier filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the commentator for allegedly claiming that the CPP killed Kem Ley. ...

A number of young people were detained in 2016 for making social media posts deemed to be inciting violence. The opposition has said freedom of expression among its youth wing is limited compared to more seasoned activists. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on all media institutions in the country to disseminate accurate news and avoid immoral acts and commentary that could sway public opinion or that of the judiciary. ...

Cambodia fell four spots in a 2016 ranking of internet freedom across the world released yesterday, with the organization behind it tying the drop to a spate of arrests for nothing more than Facebook posts and a much-maligned telecommunications law that critics say gives the ...

The UN’s special rapporteur for human rights yesterday told Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn that Cambodia is the top ranking country in terms of freedom of expression in the Asean region, but must improve in other areas of human rights which have been raised by the ...

Civil society organizations yesterday repeated calls for land disputes to be resolved quickly, peacefully and without authorities using police and the courts to put pressure on communities. Speaking at an event celebrating poor urban communities at the American Intercon School yesterday, more than 200 people, including ...

Opposition leaders on Sunday called on supporters to consider mass demonstrations after the conviction on Friday of CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha, while a government spokesman warned that those who attempted to heed the call to action would pay a “very high price.” ...

The international community should put “maximum pressure” on the Cambodian government to improve the country’s human rights situation, including possible sanctions on top officials, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said on Friday.   ...

UN Special Rapporteur Rhona Smith has responded to growing concerns among the human rights community that she is not fulfilling her mandate. ...

Cambodian police say they are investigating the declaration of a coup against the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, but have laughed off any suggestion of the threat being serious.   ...

International media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said in a statement released on Tuesday that it was concerned by what it characterized as a “surge” in threats against journalists and news organizations in Cambodia in recent weeks.   ...

Concerns are mounting among the human rights community, particularly in the wake of political analyst Kem Ley’s murder, that UN Special Rapporteur to Cambodia Rhona Smith is failing to fulfil her mandate in a time of what one observer termed “fear and confusion”. ...

The organizers of a June 17 human rights training workshop in Preah Vihear say it was shut down by police, though local authorities yesterday insisted officers only went to ask that it be postponed for pragmatic concerns.   ...

The Court of Appeal on Monday denied bail to four rights workers and an election official imprisoned in connection with a sex scandal surrounding deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha, upholding the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s decision last month.    ...

Activists behind the “Black Monday” protests said on Sunday they would demonstrate yet again today despite the threat of more arrests, this time in front of the Appeal Court, where four employees of rights group Adhoc and an election official will have their bail hearing ...

A new set of security measures at Prey Sar prison, designed to stop rampant drug use at the facility, is instead being selectively applied to prisoners being held in a politically sensitive case related to an ongoing sex scandal involving opposition leader Kem Sokha.   ...