Source: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) strongly protests the firing of "Cambodge Soir" news editor Soren Seelow and the over closure of the daily bilingual newspapercoverage of a banned report that implicated top government officials in the plunder of Cambodia's forests.
According to the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists (CAPJ), Seelow was fired on 10 June for publishing an article that cited the banned report by London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness on illegal logging in Cambodia.
"In its announcement on 13 June, the newspaper's management had cited financial difficulties as a reason for the closure. But the timing of the announcement, just two days into a protest staged by the paper's entire staff over the firing of Seelow, makes the decision to fold up suspicious," said SEAPA Executive Director Roby Alampay. "The people of Cambodia deserve to know the real reason for the closure of a newspaper that over the past 12 years had been vital to the democratisation of their country."
At the French-Khmer daily's 10th anniversary celebrations, then Ambassador of France, Yvon Roé d' Albert, commended the newspaper for its contributions to the rebuilding of Cambodia. He said, on difficult road to democracy, "Cambodge Soir" helped to establish in Cambodia "the freedom of the press, without which freedom (itself) could not exist". The "Cambodge Soir" began publication in 1995. It was sold in the Phnom Penh capital and provincial towns, with a circulation of 3,000 that reached entrepreneurs, government officials, parliamentarians, non-governmental organisations, students, foreign embassies and foreigners living in Cambodia.
According to the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists (CAPJ), Seelow was fired on 10 June for publishing an article that cited the banned report by London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness on illegal logging in Cambodia.
"In its announcement on 13 June, the newspaper's management had cited financial difficulties as a reason for the closure. But the timing of the announcement, just two days into a protest staged by the paper's entire staff over the firing of Seelow, makes the decision to fold up suspicious," said SEAPA Executive Director Roby Alampay. "The people of Cambodia deserve to know the real reason for the closure of a newspaper that over the past 12 years had been vital to the democratisation of their country."
At the French-Khmer daily's 10th anniversary celebrations, then Ambassador of France, Yvon Roé d' Albert, commended the newspaper for its contributions to the rebuilding of Cambodia. He said, on difficult road to democracy, "Cambodge Soir" helped to establish in Cambodia "the freedom of the press, without which freedom (itself) could not exist". The "Cambodge Soir" began publication in 1995. It was sold in the Phnom Penh capital and provincial towns, with a circulation of 3,000 that reached entrepreneurs, government officials, parliamentarians, non-governmental organisations, students, foreign embassies and foreigners living in Cambodia.
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