‘Yes, I Am Afraid’

Chor Sokunthea / Reuters
Sokha raises his fists before supporters after being released from prison on Jan. 17

After 17 days in jail, Cambodian human rights activist Kem Sokha was released this week. But is it just a matter of time before authorities go after him again?

By Eric Pape
Newsweek
Updated: 2:30 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2006

Jan. 21, 2006 - Cambodia's leader Hun Sen, a one-time mid-level Khmer Rouge commander, has overseen many crackdowns during the two decades he has stood at or near the helm of power. The United Nations oversaw historic elections in Cambodia in 1993, but Hun Sen never relinquished his grip, even though he lost. In fact, the dozen years since have only seen him consolidate his power. Opponents and rivals have been bought off, terrorized or physically eliminated. He went on to win two subsequent elections, in large part, thanks to his political party's domination of the electoral apparatus.

Last year, Cambodia's courts began targeting his highest-profile opponents in politics, the press and even human rights organizations, using an outdated defamation law. Those who criticize Hun Sen, or who are somehow linked to such criticism, are discovering crowded jail cells await them. On Dec. 31, heavily armed police came for Kem Sokha, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. He was taken to a cell at Prey Sa prison and held for 17 days. He spoke by phone this week with NEWSWEEK’s Eric Pape, just days after his surprise release. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: What was it like in prison?

Kem Sokha: The hygiene is bad, the water, too. Some cells still have 10 or 20 people in them. I was lucky; I only had five in a cell that was five-by-three meters. (Coughs.) Many of the people in prison are sick. I have the flu and a sore throat.

Have you been to a doctor?

I haven’t had time yet because so many people were waiting to see me. About 10,000 supporters in front of the prison, on the road and in front of my office. They were calling out my name: Kem Sokha, Kem Sokha, Kem Sokha. I did not expect this.

You were arrested because of a banner displayed at a rally on the United Nations Human Rights Day in December. What did the banner say and who wrote it?

It said: the prime minister is a traitor and he sells [Cambodian] land to Vietnam. It was a free-speech banner from the 2003 elections. My organization had allowed people to come to our offices to express themselves in writing [on the banner]. People wrote in very small handwriting. Nobody read it because we didn’t want to censor people so I don’t know who wrote it. At the rally [authorities] asked us to take it down, and we did.

Then what happened?

Police surrounded my office on Dec. 31. My staff wouldn’t let them in. I called the U.S. Embassy, the ambassador and his deputy, and the British ambassador, and they came. But the police threatened to break down the door to my office, so I decided to go with them.

In March, Cambodia’s main international donor countries will meet in Phnom Penh to decide on future economic aid. Will these prosecutions make Hun Sen look bad, or will the release of prisoners on bail help his cause?

They are still charging me, so it won’t look good for him. Observers from abroad sometimes notice that, “There are many newspapers and many [non-governmental] organizations in Cambodia.” We do have freedom, but our freedom is in the hands of the prime minister. If the prime minister lets us do something, we can do it, and if he doesn’t, it stops. Right away.

The government often asserts that Cambodia’s courts are independent, but one of the prime minister’s closest aides, Om Yentieng, reportedly said that your release on bail is Hun Sen's gift to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.

Everybody in the international community and in Cambodia knows that the courts are not independent. After the judge questioned me, he actually looked scared; he knew that there was nothing to charge me with. He went to meet his boss, and when he came back, he said he had decided to arrest me.

So what will happen now?

The case continues. The reaction of the Cambodian people and the international community matters. I was freed because many Cambodians supported me. My organization received 11,000 fingerprint signatures calling on the king to intervene to free me and many Cambodians here and abroad pushed the international community to react. If they are quiet now, I will probably have to go to trial. But today, I still came to work and I am still mentally strong. Even after 17 days in prison, they cannot affect my mind.

Is Cambodia turning into another Burma, as opposition leader Sam Rainsy says?

If the international community doesn’t take action now, it could follow that path. This government is testing the international community. When they charged Sam Rainsy and others before me [with defamation], the reaction from the international community was weak. Many countries said nothing. It was only when they began arresting many human rights activists that the international community finally reacted.

The United States, Japan, France, the UK and Australia, along with the UN, have invested billions of dollars to restore Cambodia’s democracy since the early 1990s. Yet the same guy is in charge with a tighter grip on power than ever, and the human rights situation seems to be deteriorating. What should the world powers do?

Many foreign governments spend their taxpayers’ money for the Cambodian people, but the money usually only benefits Cambodia’s leaders. Many Cambodians still earn less than one dollar per day. The international community shouldn’t throw meat to the tiger just so that he can get stronger and eat Cambodia’s poor … Donors must hold the government to its past promises and put conditions on the money they give.

Doesn’t Cambodia have regular elections?

The national election commission belongs to the ruling party, the courts aren’t independent, and the Constitutional Council, which is the final electoral arbiter, is controlled by the ruling party. So democracy doesn’t just mean elections, they have to be free and fair. Communist countries had elections, too.

Is Hun Sen trying to replace Western aid by increasing Chinese aid—without any human rights or democracy strings attached?

I think so, but it is a mistake. Democracies don’t just give money, they bring investors. Cambodia has many Chinese investors, but they want to make money—often under the table—and take it away. And China doesn’t give enough money to allow Hun Sen to succeed.

What do you think would happen to exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who's been convicted in absentia of defamation and sentenced to 18 months in prison, if he returns home from France?

He can choose jail in Cambodia or stay abroad. If he is put in jail, people will react more. The government didn’t want to arrest me, they wanted me to flee into exile. They floated rumors of my arrest, but I didn’t leave.

Are you worried that anything you say in this interview could land you in jail again?

Yes, but I cannot stop. I have decided to work again, to criticize, and to express myself. But yes, I am afraid. I tell my people that I will sacrifice everything for freedom in Cambodia. They might not just put me in jail, they could kill me. But without human rights and democracy, my people will remain poor, they will suffer, and die … How many years have passed since the UN elections of 1993, and how much money from abroad has this government spent? How many trees have they chopped down? They are squandering our natural resources and they take money from abroad. And with all that, look at how poor the people are and how rich the leaders are.

If you are gunned down one day, what message would you want to leave behind?

If I have sacrificed my life for this, it is so that others wake up; they must finally fight for democracy. They should know that I worked non-violently, and that I call on others to be non-violent, but to be relentless. People here and abroad should join together and continue this work. And the international community should support my people until they live in a real democracy. They should support this dream: that my people, my country no longer suffer dictatorship.