Press freedom: Reporter complains of ‘beating’

Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Mom Kuntear and Daniel Sherrell
The Phnom Penh Post

Press freedom

A REPORTER at Resmey 7 Makara newspaper has accused a timber broker of beating him after he took pictures of the man’s truck, which he believes was transporting illegal lumber.

Plong Reth said yesterday that he had filed a complaint against Hout Sophann to the police chief of Sra Nge commune, in Siem Reap town, on Sunday – two days after the alleged incident.

“I sued [the broker] for injuries he caused me, and demanded he pay US$2000 in compensation,” he said.

Publisher calls for arrests to stop

Hang Chakra (Photo: Zakariya, RFA)

Tuesday, 04 May 2010
Cameron Wells and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

AN opposition-aligned publisher who was recently released from prison after being convicted of disinformation was among those who marked World Press Freedom Day on Monday by calling for a moratorium on journalist arrests and condemning the government for a spike in such arrests over the last 12 months.

“Hopefully after the World Press Freedom Day, no journalist will be arrested or imprisoned due to reporting the critical inaction of government and law enforcement,” Hang Chakra, publisher of Khmer Machas Srok, said during a ceremony marking the inauguration of a new office for the Press Council of Cambodia.

Hang Chakra was imprisoned in June of last year after the paper published a series of stories alleging corruption on the part of officials in the cabinet of Deputy Prime Miniser Sok An. He was released last month after being given a Royal pardon.

A report released Monday by the Club of Cambodian Journalists stated that 24 journalists have been arrested in the past 12 months, up from 10 arrests reported during the same period a year earlier.

In a statement Monday, Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, condemned what he described as “the gag on Cambodian journalists”, saying it was “stifling democracy and human rights in Cambodia”.

Speaking at the same ceremony as Hang Chakra, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said the government stood behind all journalists, even those who are critical of its policies.

“We want to see journalists join together to develop journalism in Cambodia and report the facts of each story to help the government eliminate corrupt people from our country,” he said.

Groups Report Decline in Press Freedom in 2009

Hang Chakra, Editor-in-chief of the Khmer Machas Srok newspaper: Jailed

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 03 May 2010

“I ask the government not to use the courts to dominate journalists.”

Cambodia remains a difficult place to practice journalism, with courts used by powerful officials and businessmen to pressure the media, journalists and rights workers said Monday, on World Press Freedom Day.

In the one year since the last Press Freedom Day, 24 Cambodian journalists were arrested and 10 sued by powerful interests, the Cambodian Club of Journalists said in a statement.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Cambodia No. 117 of 174 countries in press freedom.

Those arrested include Hang Chakra, editor of the opposition-aligned Khmer Mchas Srok newspaper, who was released in April after serving nearly 10 months of a one-year sentence.

He was held on defamation charges after reporting on alleged corruption within the powerful Council of Ministers, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.

“I request that government to be open to real press freedom, without restrictions,” Hang Chakra, whose paper began publishing again on the weekend, said Monday. “I ask the government not to use the courts to dominate journalists.”

Another journalist, Ros Sokhet, was sentenced to two years in jail in November, on defamation charges, for sending disparaging text messages to CTN TV anchor Soy Sopheap. He remains in jail.

“Now journalists continue to face threats and intimidation, as charges with political motives have been raised against members of the press to stop debates relating to politics and criticism,” said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. “The government should avoid the use of the courts to pressure journalists.”

Um Sarin, president of the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists, said press freedom in Cambodia has declined. But he acknowledged that sometimes stories are unbalanced because officials fail to respond to journalists’ queries.

“Some professional journalists face difficulties writing fair enough articles for the public and society, because other parties in the article can’t be reached for comment, so some articles were sued,” he said.

24 journalists arrested and 10 sued in one year in Cambodia

Monday, 3 May 2010
By Khmerization
Source: Kampuchea Thmei

A new reports released by the Cambodian Journalists Club revealed that in one year from 3rd May 2009 to 3rd May 2010, 24 journalists across Cambodia had been arrested and 10 were sued by powerful people and by the government, reports Kampuchea Thmei.

This is a phenomenal increase compared to the same period in previous year which only seen two cases of lawsuits against journalists. The arrests of 24 journalists include two have been arrested and jailed for defamation and disinformation (Hang Chakra and Ros Sokhet), 8 had been physically threatened and a number of journalists had been fired by Radio Free Asia.

The report said that 9 journalists had been sued for defamation and disinformation relating to their professional misconduct. Two had been arrested on defamation and disinformation charges, 17 arrested on charges of extortion and 7 arrested on various charges.

The report said a number of journalists had been killed by murders and by suspicious traffic accidents. It said one journalist was shot dead inside his car, one died in a traffic accident and 5 have sustained injuries from traffic accidents.

The report also stressed that a number of journalists had been sacked in that period. It said 6 Radio Free Asia journalists were sacked in an organisational restructure, however, it said the reason for the sackings has been disputed by the sacked journalists.

The report also said that many journalists had lawsuits currently lodged against them in the Phnom Penh Court and still awaiting trial date, others had been sentenced but other (Hang Chakra) had been pardoned by the king. However, some journalists had been acquitted by the courts, said the report.

Since press freedom was championed by the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia in 1991 and since it was inscribed in the Cambodian constitution in 1993, Cambodian journalists have embarked on exercising their new found freedom to the point of being unprofessional. Many took a very extreme and confrontational stance against the government which were and are not used to being criticised. This led to many journalists being killed, wounded and jailed.

According to the statement of Cambodian Centre for Human Rights released on 1st of May, 11 journalists in Cambodia have been killed since 1993.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Press Free in Cambodia

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Press Freedom clouded by jail sentence

Hang Chakra

01 May 2010
Editorial by Pen Bona
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

"...this situation [the jailing of journalists for expressing their opinions] is clearly a contradiction to Hun Xen’s win-win policy"

On 03 May, just like many other countries in the world, Cambodia will celebrate the World Press Freedom Day which is the basis of democracy itself. In Cambodia, freedom of the press has notably moved forward during the past two decades, but jail sentence still haunts journalists and it is a dark cloud casting its ominous shadow over press freedom in Cambodia.

Cambodia is a country that saw a noticeable progress in the freedom of the press, not just in comparison to the war period, but it also earns a good mark among the countries in the region.

However, the main obstacle to the progress of the press in Cambodia stems from the fact that journalists are still facing jail sentence for writing their opinions. The case of Hang Chakra, Editor-in-chief of the Khmer Machas Srok newspaper who was recently released from jail during the Cambodia New Year, is a sober reminder of this situation. This pro-opposition journalist was sentenced to 1-year of jail term for disinformation under a lawsuit brought up the government lawyer.

In reality, journalists do not enjoy any special immunity and they are just like any other citizens who would be responsible in front of the law, i.e. if a journalist commits a crime, he will face a criminal sentence just like anybody else. However, in order to guarantee the democratic freedom of expression, the law also protects journalists from being sent to jail for expressing their opinions.

There are three factors that guarantee Cambodian journalists from being sentenced to jail term:

1- Following the 1993 election, Cambodia selected to follow the path of plural democracy. Under this condition, freedom of expression is itself protected by the Constitution.
2- To guarantee the strengthening of the freedom of the press, the National Assembly ratified the information law which went into effect since 1995. This law clearly guarantees that no journalists should be arrested or sent to jail for expressing their opinions.
3- PM Hun Xen publicly announced that defamation cases must not be sentenced by jail term. Hun Xen’s declaration was aimed at avoiding jail term sentence handed down to journalists.

Unfortunately, every time when journalists are being sued, the factors above are usually neglected and journalists ended up being sentenced for disinformation – a criminal offense – and they ended being sent to jail as before. In reality, even if the information law protects journalists from jail sentence, the law also prescribes heavy fines in cases involving defamation or disinformation.

What is surprising is that the suing party tried very hard to evade the information law and they only want to use the criminal law to ensure that the accused journalists are being sent to jail. So the question is: who benefits from this issue? The real answer is that nobody wins and everybody loses: for the accused journalist, he ended up wasting time and income to support his family; as for the government which allows such jail sentence to take place, it comes under severe criticism from all corners, the government’s action leads to a cheapening of Cambodia’s democracy and rule of law.

Furthermore, this situation is clearly a contradiction to Hun Xen’s win-win policy. Therefore, the dark clouds that cast their ominous shadow on Cambodia’s democracy through the jailing of journalists should no longer be allowed!

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Press Freedom

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Khieu Kanharith on RSF report : Deny! Deny! Deny!

Hang Chakra, Editor-in-chief of Khmer Machas Srok newspaper (Photo: Sok Serey, RFA)

Khieu Kanharith not convinced by RSF report

Monday 22 Feb 2010
By A.L.G.
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Alain De Veng
Click here to read the article in French

Khieu Kanharith, the minister of Information and government spokesman, called on Reporters Without Borders (with the acronym RSF in French) to investigate on the real activities led by the reporters named in the RSF report.

Several reporters named in Reporters Without Borders report on the freedom of press in Cambodia were sentenced due to their lack of professionalism, Khieu Kanharith indicated on Sunday 21 Feb when questioned by Cambodge Soir Hebdo.

Regarding Hang Chakra, the editor-in-chief of the Khmer Machas Srok newspaper, Khieu Kanharith indicated that it was mainly a “personal affair” between vice-PM Sok An and the reporter.

Hang Chakra, who was sentenced to one year of jail term on 26 June 2009 by the Phnom Penh municipal court, published in the opposition-leaning Khmer Machas Srok newspaper articles that accused those working around Sok An of corruption.

In the RSF report, Khieu Kanharith claimed that he would “personally” favor the release of Hang Chakra.

“For several reporters named, RSF would do better to investigate [to find out] if they were real reporters or just people shamelessly using their press badges in unsavory affairs,” Khieu Kanharith said.

Among the cases raised by RSF, the controversial case of Ros Sokhet was also cited. He was sentenced to 2-year of jail term for “disinformation” on 06 November 2009 after sending a text message to Soy Sopheap, a reporter close to Hun Xen, accusing the latter of receiving bribe to silence a report.

In its report, RSF cautiously raised this case, saying that the court should simply give a “formal reprimand” to Ros Sokhet.

In other cases, Khieu Kanharith stressed that “the PM ordered a stop on the lawsuits against three other editors. If this organization [RSF] is really professional, it could easily check this fact.”

Furthermore, the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia praised the dropping of RFA reporter Sok Serey’s lawsuit case last Friday by the Takeo provincial court, as well as the lawsuit cases against 2 human rights defenders and two representatives of the Cham community, all of whom were charged with “disinformation.” The RFA reporters, the activists and the Cham community representatives were sued in a case stemming from a dispute between Cham villagers and religious leaders from the Kampong Youl village mosque, located in Takeo province, where these leaders were accused of corruption.

The OHCHR called on all Cambodian judges to follow the precedence set by this case, in particular, in the context of the application of the new penal code “in which numerous stipulations could potentially restraint freedom of expression.”

Press Freedom in Cambodia is seriously under threat: CCHR

Source: CCHR

Media Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phnom Penh, May 02, 2009
Press Freedom in Cambodia is seriously under threat

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) is very concerned with the high number of cases of human rights abuses against journalists and other media workers in Cambodia. Press freedom in Cambodia is seriously under threat.

In 2008 alone, the CCHR has documented and monitored at least 61 human rights abuses against journalists and media workers. Of this figure, there were 15 threats including death threats, threats to commence legal action, and threats to withhold licenses to operate,; 14 arrests made for spurious reasons; and 5 cases of law suits claiming defamation and disinformation being used to silence the media.

The arrest of Mr. Dam Sith, editor in chief of the pro-opposition Moneasika Khmer newspaper and a Sam Rainsy Party candidate for the parliamentary election, was a good example of how political motivations often lie behind charges of defamation and disinformation brought against journalists.

Even worse was the murder of Mr. Khim Sambo, reporter of Moneasika Khmer, along with his son in the run-up to the general election in July 2008. No perpetrator has been brought to justice.

In 2009, as of today, we have observed 8 human rights abuses against journalists including killing, death threats, physical assault, lawsuits, and arrests for alleged extortion.

Given the high figure of human rights violations involving journalist and the media in general, the CCHR calls upon the Royal Government of Cambodia to take appropriate action and follow the recommendations recently made by more than 20 non-governmental organisations in a joint report on freedom of expression and assembly to guarantee press freedom in Cambodia and bring the perpetrators of criminal acts against journalists to justice.

For more information, please contact:
Mr. Ou Virak, President, CCHR
Tel: +855 12 404051
Email: ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org