Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Showing posts with label Khat Sarin Theada's killing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Khat Sarin Theada's killing. Show all posts
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Political Cartoon: Khmer-Journalist's Crime
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Khmer Journalist, Son, Shot Dead
2008-07-12
Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia
As Cambodia's election campaign heats up, a journalist linked to the opposition is killed along with his son.
PHNOM PENH—Veteran Cambodian journalist and government critic Khim Sambo and his son were shot and killed by unknown gunmen in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh's police chief Touch Naruth said.
“Witnesses said it was over some sort of dispute, but we are still looking for the murderers,” Touch Naruth told the AFP news agency.
Khim Sambo, 47, was shot five times while driving near the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, apparently by a single gunman who fled the scene. Khim Sambo’s son, Khatsarin Sopheathea, 21 and a university student, was also shot through the heart in the attack and died in hospital, they said.
Both father and son had just left the Olympic Stadium gym. Khim Sambo and Khatsarin Sopheathea’s remains were taken to Svay Dangkum monastery and were to be cremated Sunday.
Khim Sambo was known as a vocal critic of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and particularly of his July 5, 1997 coup, during which Khim Sambo was forced into hiding.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy suggested that Khim Sambo was killed because of his opposition to Prime Minister Hun Sen's government. “This is very painful to me...Violence has reared its head again,” he said.
“Those who have committed evil acts are always afraid of the truth. And if they have committed evil acts they do not want the truth exposed. So they kill the journalists.”
“I urge the Cambodian people to pass judgment July 27 since the highest court in Cambodia is the Cambodian people’s court,” he said, referring to national elections set for July 27.
Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith scrapped a campaign visit to Kg Cham. He returned to Phnom Penh and condemned the shooting.
“I will return [to Phnom Penh]...to inquire about the incident so that I can report to the Prime Minister, to see what it was all about,” he said.
“He only quotes what people told him. It doesn't mean he is wrong. Therefore, I am going back and I am scrapping the campaign program for tomorrow....I will inform the Prime Minister and seek the truth about what really happened.”
Khim Sambo had been working for the daily Khmer-language Moneakseka Khmer (Khmer Conscience), a newspaper allied to Sam Rainsy, since 1997. He covered social affairs rather than politics, the newspaper's publisher Dam Sith said.
Dam Sith was recently charged for printing allegations that Cambodia's foreign minister had ties to the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. The charge was later dropped.
Original reporting by RFA's Khmer service. Edited by Sam Borin. Khmer service director: Sos Kem. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Edited in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.
PHNOM PENH—Veteran Cambodian journalist and government critic Khim Sambo and his son were shot and killed by unknown gunmen in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh's police chief Touch Naruth said.
“Witnesses said it was over some sort of dispute, but we are still looking for the murderers,” Touch Naruth told the AFP news agency.
Khim Sambo, 47, was shot five times while driving near the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, apparently by a single gunman who fled the scene. Khim Sambo’s son, Khatsarin Sopheathea, 21 and a university student, was also shot through the heart in the attack and died in hospital, they said.
Both father and son had just left the Olympic Stadium gym. Khim Sambo and Khatsarin Sopheathea’s remains were taken to Svay Dangkum monastery and were to be cremated Sunday.
Khim Sambo was known as a vocal critic of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and particularly of his July 5, 1997 coup, during which Khim Sambo was forced into hiding.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy suggested that Khim Sambo was killed because of his opposition to Prime Minister Hun Sen's government. “This is very painful to me...Violence has reared its head again,” he said.
“Those who have committed evil acts are always afraid of the truth. And if they have committed evil acts they do not want the truth exposed. So they kill the journalists.”
“I urge the Cambodian people to pass judgment July 27 since the highest court in Cambodia is the Cambodian people’s court,” he said, referring to national elections set for July 27.
Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith scrapped a campaign visit to Kg Cham. He returned to Phnom Penh and condemned the shooting.
“I will return [to Phnom Penh]...to inquire about the incident so that I can report to the Prime Minister, to see what it was all about,” he said.
“He only quotes what people told him. It doesn't mean he is wrong. Therefore, I am going back and I am scrapping the campaign program for tomorrow....I will inform the Prime Minister and seek the truth about what really happened.”
Khim Sambo had been working for the daily Khmer-language Moneakseka Khmer (Khmer Conscience), a newspaper allied to Sam Rainsy, since 1997. He covered social affairs rather than politics, the newspaper's publisher Dam Sith said.
Dam Sith was recently charged for printing allegations that Cambodia's foreign minister had ties to the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. The charge was later dropped.
Original reporting by RFA's Khmer service. Edited by Sam Borin. Khmer service director: Sos Kem. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Edited in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.
Cambodian Journalist Shot Dead
Relatives of killed journalist Khim Sambo arrange portrait during mourning ceremony at pagoda in Phnom Penh, 12 Jul 2008By Rory Byrne, VOA
Phnom Penh
12 July 2008
A prominent Cambodian journalist who worked for a pro-opposition newspaper was shot dead Friday along with his son in the capital Phnom Penh. Human rights groups say that the attack is meant to intimidate journalists and the public ahead of Cambodia's upcoming general elections while the government has condemned the killing and pledged to catch the killers. Rory Byrne has this report for VOA from Phnom Penh.
Khem Sambo and his 21-year-old son were riding a motorcycle Friday afternoon when they were each shot twice by a man on another motorcycle. They both died later in hospital.
Sambo, 47, reported on corruption, land grabbing and other social issues in Cambodia for the opposition newspaper Moneaseka Khmer.
Human rights advocate Theary Seng says that the killings have all the hallmarks of a political assassination.
"He's a well known journalist with an opposition voice who has been very critical of the government. It was intentional because there were at least five bullets sprayed on this man so it has all the indications of a political assassination," said Seng.
The killings of Sambo and his son follow at least half a dozen other killings in recent months that are thought to be politically motivated. They come just two weeks before Cambodia's national elections and are intended to send a message to voters, says Seng.
"There is a pattern of killings," he said. "The killings are concentrated a few months before the elections. The other pattern is that it's done in broad daylight, its done in a public space, so that the public can get the message which is: be careful if you go to a voting booth on the 27th."
Human rights groups say that Sambo is the 12th journalist to have been killed for his work since 1992. None of the killers have been found. Speaking to reporters in Phnom Penh Saturday Cambodian information Minister Khieu Kanharith condemned the killings and said that the "culprits cannot be forgiven and must be found."
Khem Sambo and his 21-year-old son were riding a motorcycle Friday afternoon when they were each shot twice by a man on another motorcycle. They both died later in hospital.
Sambo, 47, reported on corruption, land grabbing and other social issues in Cambodia for the opposition newspaper Moneaseka Khmer.
Human rights advocate Theary Seng says that the killings have all the hallmarks of a political assassination.
"He's a well known journalist with an opposition voice who has been very critical of the government. It was intentional because there were at least five bullets sprayed on this man so it has all the indications of a political assassination," said Seng.
The killings of Sambo and his son follow at least half a dozen other killings in recent months that are thought to be politically motivated. They come just two weeks before Cambodia's national elections and are intended to send a message to voters, says Seng.
"There is a pattern of killings," he said. "The killings are concentrated a few months before the elections. The other pattern is that it's done in broad daylight, its done in a public space, so that the public can get the message which is: be careful if you go to a voting booth on the 27th."
Human rights groups say that Sambo is the 12th journalist to have been killed for his work since 1992. None of the killers have been found. Speaking to reporters in Phnom Penh Saturday Cambodian information Minister Khieu Kanharith condemned the killings and said that the "culprits cannot be forgiven and must be found."
Cambodia opposition calls killing 'political threat'
Saturday, July 12, 2008
ABC Radio Australia
ABC Radio Australia
Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party has issued a statement calling the killing of a newspaper journalist and his son on Friday an ''assassination'' and ''a political threat''.
The journalist, Khim Sambor, worked for a newspaper allied with the party.
He was attacked, along with his 21-year-old son, by a pair of motorbike-riding assailants on Friday.
Police sources and witnesses say the 47-year-old was shot in the back as he was riding on a motorbike driven by his son.
A gunman riding pillion on the assailants' motorcycle then shot the son in the chest as he was going to the aid of his father and telephoning for help.
The Sam Rainsy Party expressed doubt that his killers would be apprehended.
The killing comes amid the month-long official campaign season for the July 27 general election.
The journalist, Khim Sambor, worked for a newspaper allied with the party.
He was attacked, along with his 21-year-old son, by a pair of motorbike-riding assailants on Friday.
Police sources and witnesses say the 47-year-old was shot in the back as he was riding on a motorbike driven by his son.
A gunman riding pillion on the assailants' motorcycle then shot the son in the chest as he was going to the aid of his father and telephoning for help.
The Sam Rainsy Party expressed doubt that his killers would be apprehended.
The killing comes amid the month-long official campaign season for the July 27 general election.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Slain Cambodian journalist's son dies in hospital
Sat, 12 Jul 2008
DPA
DPA
Phnom Penh - The teenage son of a slain Cambodian opposition party journalist has died in hospital from gunshot wounds, police said Saturday, after he and his father were attacked in an apparent assassination attempt just weeks before national elections. Khim Sambo, 47, a senior scribe for the Khmer-language Moneakseka Khmer daily, was pronounced dead at the scene and his son, Sarin Thida, 19, died later in hospital after Friday evening's attack.
Police said the pair was returning from exercising at the capital's busy Olympic Stadium when two men on a motorbike approached and fired five rounds from a K-59 pistol at close range.
Khim Sambo, initially named by police at the scene as Khim Sam Ol, worked for the pro-Sam Rainsy paper for 11 years but his beat remained unclear as Cambodian journalists habitually use pseudonyms.
A board member for the powerful Club of Cambodian Journalists, which has condemned the killings, said Sambo was previously an associate of slain journalists Thun Bun Ly and Nuon Chan.
Both of those men were also working for pro-Sam Rainsy publications when they were shot dead in 1996 and 1994 respectively.
However, despite recent controversy surrounding Sambo's paper, whose editor Dam Sith was last month charged with defamation against a senior government minister and jailed for a week, police urged caution in attributing political blame for the murders.
Cambodia is scheduled to hold national elections on July 27 and the pre-election period has historically been fraught with violence, but police said it was also a popular time to act on personal disputes in the hope politics would be blamed.
Information Minister and former journalist Khieu Kanharith attended a service for Sambo and his son Saturday morning.
Police said the pair was returning from exercising at the capital's busy Olympic Stadium when two men on a motorbike approached and fired five rounds from a K-59 pistol at close range.
Khim Sambo, initially named by police at the scene as Khim Sam Ol, worked for the pro-Sam Rainsy paper for 11 years but his beat remained unclear as Cambodian journalists habitually use pseudonyms.
A board member for the powerful Club of Cambodian Journalists, which has condemned the killings, said Sambo was previously an associate of slain journalists Thun Bun Ly and Nuon Chan.
Both of those men were also working for pro-Sam Rainsy publications when they were shot dead in 1996 and 1994 respectively.
However, despite recent controversy surrounding Sambo's paper, whose editor Dam Sith was last month charged with defamation against a senior government minister and jailed for a week, police urged caution in attributing political blame for the murders.
Cambodia is scheduled to hold national elections on July 27 and the pre-election period has historically been fraught with violence, but police said it was also a popular time to act on personal disputes in the hope politics would be blamed.
Information Minister and former journalist Khieu Kanharith attended a service for Sambo and his son Saturday morning.
Khim Sambo's son died at the hospital
Cambodian journalist shot dead
7/12/2008
Agence France-Presse
7/12/2008
Agence France-Presse
PHNOM PENH - A Cambodian journalist and his son were shot dead as they left a sports stadium in the capital Phnom Penh, police said Saturday.
Khim Sambo, 47, died in hospital Friday evening soon after being shot twice in the back by unknown gunmen, Phnom Penh's police chief Touch Naruth said.
His 22-year-old son Khat Sarin Theada was shot once in the chest and died later, he added.
"They were shot to death after they finished exercising at the Olympic Stadium," Touch Naruth said.
"Witnesses said it was over some sort of dispute, but we are still looking for the murderers," he told AFP.
Khim Sambo had been working for daily Khmer-language Moneakseka Khmer (Khmer Conscience), a newspaper allied to the government's opposition leader Sam Rainsy, since 1997.
He usually covered social affairs rather than politics, the newspaper's publisher Dam Sith said.
Dam Sith was recently charged for printing allegations that Cambodia's foreign minister had ties to the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.
The charge was later dropped.
The deadly attack took place as Cambodia kicked off a month of campaigning for its July 27 general election.
Human rights activists said the killing could affect voters.
"The killing sends a negative message ... if the case is not immediately solved it will makes voters fearful of the upcoming election," said Kek Galabru, president of local human rights group Licadho.
Eleven political parties will run in this year's election.
Prime Minster Hun Sen -- one of the longest-serving leaders in Southeast Asia with 23 years in power -- and his ruling Cambodian People's Party are widely expected to win the poll.
Khim Sambo, 47, died in hospital Friday evening soon after being shot twice in the back by unknown gunmen, Phnom Penh's police chief Touch Naruth said.
His 22-year-old son Khat Sarin Theada was shot once in the chest and died later, he added.
"They were shot to death after they finished exercising at the Olympic Stadium," Touch Naruth said.
"Witnesses said it was over some sort of dispute, but we are still looking for the murderers," he told AFP.
Khim Sambo had been working for daily Khmer-language Moneakseka Khmer (Khmer Conscience), a newspaper allied to the government's opposition leader Sam Rainsy, since 1997.
He usually covered social affairs rather than politics, the newspaper's publisher Dam Sith said.
Dam Sith was recently charged for printing allegations that Cambodia's foreign minister had ties to the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.
The charge was later dropped.
The deadly attack took place as Cambodia kicked off a month of campaigning for its July 27 general election.
Human rights activists said the killing could affect voters.
"The killing sends a negative message ... if the case is not immediately solved it will makes voters fearful of the upcoming election," said Kek Galabru, president of local human rights group Licadho.
Eleven political parties will run in this year's election.
Prime Minster Hun Sen -- one of the longest-serving leaders in Southeast Asia with 23 years in power -- and his ruling Cambodian People's Party are widely expected to win the poll.
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