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| Cambodian Journalist Mam Sonando arrives to an Appeal court in Phnom Penh in 2012 (AFP/Getty Images) |
4 March 2013
Source: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/cambodia-free-journalist-two-decade-prison-sentence-2013-03-04
“Mam Sonando’s 20-year prison sentence was inexplicable and baseless, with no evidence presented at the trial that he initiated a violent uprising against the government.” - Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Cambodia.
The Cambodian authorities must free prisoner of conscience and government critic Mam Sonando, Amnesty International said ahead of his appeal hearing tomorrow in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh.
The 71-year-old was sentenced to 20 years in prison on 1 October 2012 for anti-state offences including instigating “insurrection”.
“Mam Sonando’s 20-year prison sentence was inexplicable and baseless, with no evidence presented at the trial that he initiated a violent uprising against the government,” said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Cambodia, who attended the original trial and verdict hearing.
“Rather, he has been imprisoned simply for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and must be freed immediately and unconditionally.”
Additionally in breach of the right to freedom of expression, some of his supporters have been told by local authorities to remove Mam Sonando Justice Calendars from display outside their homes. The calendars, which show the number of days Mam Sonando has been imprisoned, are a local campaigning tool by Cambodian activists.
A prominent journalist and the owner of Beehive Radio, one of Cambodia’s few independent radio stations, Mam Sonando is also the head of the Association of Democrats, a popular non-governmental organization that he founded to promote human rights and democracy.
His prosecution appears to stem from a speech made by Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen on 26 June 2012, in which he accused Mam Sonando and members of the Association of Democrats of being behind a plot for Pro Ma village in Kratie province to secede from Cambodia.
The Prime Minister’s speech came soon after Beehive Radio broadcast a report about a complaint lodged in June 2012 at the International Criminal Court that accuses Cambodia’s government of committing crimes against humanity by displacing thousands of people through forced evictions.
“Mam Sonando’s case is indicative of an extremely worrying trend: the Cambodian courts are being used to silence human rights defenders, particularly in the context of conflicts over land ownership and forced evictions,” Abbott said.
Since the beginning of 2012 the authorities have increasingly used harassment, spurious legal action and violence against human rights defenders and others who are peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly.
4 comments:
VC told Hun Sen to put Mam Sonando and Sam Rainsy in jail, but sadly Hun Sen did as told. But if Hun is smart like the VC and the Chinese, he should turn around and say 'this is my county, I will not put my fellow brothers and sisters in jail for your benefit'. In the political world, life is like a 'yin and yang' or 'pro and con' , without it, the gov't system will not be effective.
it is likely to be doomed soon or later. Today, Viets and Chinese are sending thousands of students to study in the west and once they completed, they are encouraged to go back home to help to run the nation and country. But in Cambodia, those neighbouring country are taking advantage of us and our downfall and trying to push us to the corner by directing our leader like Hun Sen to destroy his own educated people and then what? leaving Hun Sen as their puppet and slave to them at the end of the day.
They did this before to Kingta and Pol Pot, they promised them the world, but in the end only to lead to stray. They used the tactic of 'killing two bird with one stone'. They put on the fuel and fired them, then, they said 'khmers killed khmers' and then, they laugh....In the end Kingta and Pol Pot said 'we have been betrayed by VC, we believed in them and now they ruined all of us'. In addition, they did this to the U.S armies too. They let their Viet whores to lure all the soldiers and then killed them after having sex during WWII known as the 'Tet Attack'.
Today, everyone around the world knows what the VC are capable off 'killing two birds with one stone'. Hun Sen please wake up, please let Mam Sonando and other educated ones go for the benefit of our nation. Please try to learn from the past and then you will see the future, e.g Loas, Champa, Khmer Khrom, khmer indigenous etc...don't let history repeat itself. Please be smarter.
A
Please just let Mr. Mam Sonando in peace.
Very sure soon or late the Cambodian government will let him out of the prison and Mr. Mam Sonando will again able to serve the Khmer people.
Why other people have to involve into the Cambodian jurist system. No on on, most of us this planet will let someone else to say, what we Khmer have to do.
យួនបង្កើត ក្រុមខ្មែរវៀតមិញ!
យួនក៏បង្កើត ក្រុមខ្មែរវៀតមិញថ្មី គឺ :
-អាស្វា សម រង្សី
-អាស្វា កឹម សុខា,និង
-មីស្វា មួ សុខហួ សំរាប់សង្រ្គោះអាយួនដែរ!
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បើខ្មែរចង់សើច...សូមកុំទៅបោះឆ្នោតជាមួយយួន!
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បើខ្មែរចង់យំ អស់ដី........បោះឆ្នោតទៀតទៅ!
យួនបង្កើត ក្រុមខ្មែរវៀតមិញ!
យួនក៏បង្កើត ក្រុមខ្មែរវៀតមិញថ្មី គឺ :
អា ឡប់ 1:50 AM !
ហា!!!
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