CAMBODIA: Award-winning Cambodian journalist Mech Dara has been arrested and charged with incitement. Mech Dara is well known for his investigative reports on human trafficking and corruption.
Last year, the United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken commended him for his investigative expose on cyber scams in Cambodia. He was awarded the US State Department’s human trafficking Hero Award for his work.
Dara was detained at a highway toll booth on the border of Koh Kong and Sihanouk province in southwest Cambodia on Oct 30.
Renowned Cambodian investigative journalist Mech Dara has been charged with incitement to provoke “serious social chaos,” sparking outrage from rights groups and journalism advocates. ⬇️https://t.co/HpPicH9ZIS
— Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (@OCCRP) October 1, 2024
His relative told the BBC news reporters that he had been waiting to go through the toll booth when a police car pulled up alongside to arrest him. Dara managed to message a local rights group before he was arrested, and his phone was taken away.
Some 24 hours later, he was brought to court in Phnom Penh and charged with incitement to commit a felony. He was sent to pre-trial detention and faces between six months and two years in jail if he is found guilty.
A Phnom Penh Municipal Court representative, Y Rin, told the BBC that the charges were related to five social media posts he had made in September.
The court said the posts were fake and contained edited pictures of tourist attractions. The court alleged that the posts were “full of ill-intention – inciting, causing anger among the public that was intended to make people think bad of the government.”
Critics of the Cambodian government say that this vague charge is a familiar one often employed by the government. The US embassy in Phnom Penh has called for his release, saying that he was a “leading voice against human trafficking and online scams.”
Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Bryony Lau said, “Mech Dara is a respected journalist who has reported on important topics in the police interest such as online scam centres.
Yet Cambodian authorities appear to have wrongfully arrested him yesterday. They should immediately release him.”
Director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates, Phil Robertson, said that Dara’s arrest was “outrageous and unacceptable” and “is emblematic of the Cambodian government’s repressive, over-the-top reaction to any sort of criticism from the media.”
Press freedom has been a long-standing issue for journalists in Cambodia. They are often detained for reporting the truth and subjected to mistreatment as well as denied their basic rights. This is despite calls from activists and recommendations from the United Nations to curb this.