Arson attack follows anonymous threat against journalist reporting on illegal logging
Country/Topic: Cambodia
Date: 15 August 2007
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Person(s): Phan Phat
Target(s): journalist(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): attacked , threatened
Urgency: Flash
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:
NEW YORK, August 15, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Cambodian government to launch an independent investigation into the recent arson attack on the home of Phan Phat, a journalist with the local Khmer language newspaper Chbas Kar.
According to local press freedom groups and news reports, Phat's wooden house was set ablaze by unknown assailants at around 4 a.m. on August 10 in the Boeng Khnar commune of Porsat province. The small blaze was quickly extinguished and Phat and his family escaped without injury. Phat was quoted by local media as saying that he had received an anonymous phone call threatening to give him a "gift" the day before the attack, according to the same reports.
Commune Police Chief Sann Ly was quoted in a local publication as saying that the attack was likely in "revenge" for Phat's recent reporting on illegal logging activities in the province's Bakan district. District Police Chief Youk Yoen told reporters that judging by the small amount of gasoline used in the arson attack, the assailants likely did not mean to kill the reporter and his family. The police official said his office was approaching the case as "an attack on the free press."
"There is strong reason to believe that the attack on Phan Phat was motivated by his work as a journalist," said Joel Simon, CPJ's executive director. "Cambodian authorities must act quickly and decisively to uncover who is responsible."
Illegal logging is rampant in Cambodia's provincial areas. Reporters who dare to publish on the activities often face threats, physical attacks, and sometimes death. An investigative report released in May by UK-based environmental watchdog Global Witness accused several high ranking Cambodian officials of complicity in illegal logging, including a senior official inside Prime Minister Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit. Government officials denied any involvement in illegal logging.
The government ordered a ban on the report's distribution and the Ministry of Information issued a blanket order to local media outlets not to publish on the report's findings. Lem Pichpisey, a radio reporter with Radio Free Asia, nonetheless aired several news stories on the report's allegations. He later received an anonymous death threat by telephone. The radio reporter was forced to flee Cambodia for neighboring Thailand on June 17 due to his editors' concerns about his personal security.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org
Country/Topic: Cambodia
Date: 15 August 2007
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Person(s): Phan Phat
Target(s): journalist(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): attacked , threatened
Urgency: Flash
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:
Arson attack follows anonymous threat against Cambodian journalist
NEW YORK, August 15, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Cambodian government to launch an independent investigation into the recent arson attack on the home of Phan Phat, a journalist with the local Khmer language newspaper Chbas Kar.
According to local press freedom groups and news reports, Phat's wooden house was set ablaze by unknown assailants at around 4 a.m. on August 10 in the Boeng Khnar commune of Porsat province. The small blaze was quickly extinguished and Phat and his family escaped without injury. Phat was quoted by local media as saying that he had received an anonymous phone call threatening to give him a "gift" the day before the attack, according to the same reports.
Commune Police Chief Sann Ly was quoted in a local publication as saying that the attack was likely in "revenge" for Phat's recent reporting on illegal logging activities in the province's Bakan district. District Police Chief Youk Yoen told reporters that judging by the small amount of gasoline used in the arson attack, the assailants likely did not mean to kill the reporter and his family. The police official said his office was approaching the case as "an attack on the free press."
"There is strong reason to believe that the attack on Phan Phat was motivated by his work as a journalist," said Joel Simon, CPJ's executive director. "Cambodian authorities must act quickly and decisively to uncover who is responsible."
Illegal logging is rampant in Cambodia's provincial areas. Reporters who dare to publish on the activities often face threats, physical attacks, and sometimes death. An investigative report released in May by UK-based environmental watchdog Global Witness accused several high ranking Cambodian officials of complicity in illegal logging, including a senior official inside Prime Minister Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit. Government officials denied any involvement in illegal logging.
The government ordered a ban on the report's distribution and the Ministry of Information issued a blanket order to local media outlets not to publish on the report's findings. Lem Pichpisey, a radio reporter with Radio Free Asia, nonetheless aired several news stories on the report's allegations. He later received an anonymous death threat by telephone. The radio reporter was forced to flee Cambodia for neighboring Thailand on June 17 due to his editors' concerns about his personal security.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org
3 comments:
There's always "revenge" in the police report. I hate it when organization urge the "police" to investigate. They can't investigate where dog poop originate, and I'm being polite here. Reason? It's not their fault. They are paid a measly $1 a day to do their job. Of course they are force to take bribes and such.
Neither the police nor any other government official in Cambodia is "forced" to take bribes, so please stop repeating this foolish assertion. They all pay big bribes to get their "jobs" so that they can extort and steal money from those Cambodians unable to pay the price for the job. Taking bribes is why they paid to get the job in the first place. Ask any judge or prosecutor - or MP for that matter.
If my car gets stuck in traffic, I pay a couple dollars to the traffic officer, and he'll clear the road for me. Bribe, so you shut the mouth about foolish assertion. Call the cop at midnight? Yeah, they'll show up, you better pay them. There's no cop at night patrolling the street. 30 USD a month ain't gonna cut it.
Some cops do have to pay large sums of money for higher position, ofcourse I know that. But those positions are never secure. As a result, they are booted down. If you don't have a real pHD to back up real experience, the job are obtained through bribery (that's nothing new about politics). There are politicians with real educational background whose jobs are for the most part secure because they can run the system and prevents it from callapsing.
Then there are politicians who buy their way in, whose jobs are less secure. I don't need to ask a clown judge or an MP for that.
I know MPs, traffic police, and politicians in srok khmer.
I have driven in Phnom Pehn where traffic cops can charge you in any amount prefered. I also know it is EASY to bribe any of them.
Yes, in conclusion they pay big bribes to get their jobs, and then they are bribed by people with money. They give and they take bribes. Is that hard enough for you to understand?
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