Criticism is not a crime, UN tells Cambodia

24 February 2011
AFP

"Those holding public positions should be willing to accept criticism for their decisions. Criticism is not a crime but an exercise of freedom of conscience, an act of intelligence"

PHNOM PENH: The UN special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia on Thursday voiced disquiet about a crackdown on freedom of expression in the country and the growing problem of land rights violations.

"I am concerned about the narrowing of space for the people to express their views peacefully and without fear, including those belongings to different political parties," Surya Subedi said at the end of his fourth 10-day fact-finding mission to the country.

The Cambodian government has come under fire from rights groups in recent years for launching a number of defamation and disinformation lawsuits against critics and opposition members.

Open Letter from Lem Piseth, Free Press Magazine Editor-in-Chief

Click on the letter in Khmer to zoom in

Unofficial translation from Khmer by Socheata

Open letter from the Editor-in-chief
of the Free Press Magazine
to the Readers

Respected and beloved Readers!

The Free Press Magazine (FPM) is restarting its publication again on the Internet, starting from 06 July 2009, through the following website: http://www.fpmonline.net

The restart of our publication takes place after the magazine suspended its publication for more than one year because our workgroup in Cambodia is concerned about their security and personal safety following the launch of our first number in November 2007, and the subsequent confiscation of our magazine from the various newspaper kiosks selling them in Phnom Penh and a number of other provinces. Furthermore, it was reported that spies from the Cambodian ministry of Interior copied the personal biography of the FPM personnel from the information center in order to investigate on them.

Mr. Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman, accused the FPM of violating the constitution for publishing an article about the role of King Norodom Sihanouk, the former king of Cambodia, during the Khmer Rouge regime and the trial of the former Khmer Rouge leaders at the KR Tribunal. The article was written by Dr. Lao Mong Hay and it was titled: “There is no immunity for Samdech Norodom Sihanouk.”

In his interview with The Cambodia Daily in its 03 November 2007 edition, Mr. Khieu Kanharith also accused the FPM editor of being a Khmer Republican group that wants to topple the monarchy.

However, regarding the confiscation of the FPM, political observers in Cambodia are of a different opinion: the magazine was confiscated because it published an article on the murder of Mrs. Piseth Pilika, a famous Cambodian actress. The publication of this article earned the ire of Mr. Hok Lundy, then-national police commissioner, as well as those of Mr. Hun Sen and Bun Rany Hun Sen, because of their involvement in this murder.

The author of the article, which was titled “The identity of Mrs. Pilika’s assassin is known, but the authority wouldn’t dare arrest him,” showed numerous proofs left behind by Mrs. Pilika, as well as a poem personally penned by Prime minister Hun Sen sent to her, and the results of the investigation provided by the former chief of investigation on this murder.

Since the confiscation of the magazine, all FPM personnel resigned from their position because they were concerned about their security and personal safety.

Furthermore, FPM had a hard time finding a print shop in Cambodia that dares print its copies. When the FPM’s Editor-in-chief returned back to Cambodia following a short flight overseas, the print shop which used to print the magazine refused to continue its printing and the print shop owner raised the fact that he was concerned the government may shut him down. Other print shops also said the same thing, therefore, the second number of the FPM, which would have been published on 02 January 2008, had to be suspended and all that the editor-in-chief could do was to send out the articles to readers through emails.

In order to share editorials and comments with our readers, the FPM plans to restart its publication again under my responsibility. We have decided to publish the number 5 issue of the FPM online on 13 July 2009, through the following website: http://www.fpmonline.net

I am also stressing that the current publication is not under the responsibility of the former reporters and editors of the FPM in Cambodia. Therefore, I am calling on the Cambodian government and authorities not to harass these former employees.

Quite to the contrary, I am encouraging the government of Cambodia to continue its application of the [1991] Paris Peace Accords [on Cambodia], the [Cambodian] Constitution, and the [Cambodian] information law to resolve the lawsuits it brought against Cambodian journalists.

Done in Norway, 13 July 2009

Lem Piseth
Editor-in-Chief

Rights Abuse Critic Threatened With Gun

Heang Rithy, President of CNRO (Photo: CNRO)

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 September 2008

Heang Rithy, president of the Cambodian National Research Organization a critic of the government’s human rights record, said Monday he was threatened by gunpoint Thursday night.

The organization documents human rights abuses, especially in the growing problem of land-grabbing. Heang Rithy is an outspoken critic of the Cambodian government.

Heang Rithy filed a complaint with the Ministry of Interior Friday, claiming he had been driving to his office Thursday night, in Chamkar Mon district, when a luxury car with military police plates pulled in front of him and stopped. The driver pointed a pistol at him and told him to step out of his car and threatened to shoot him, according to the complaint.

Heang Rithy said Monday he was worried the threat was related to his work, especially radio broadcasts on Beehive Radio FM105 criticizing the government’s human rights efforts and detailing rights abuses.

Ministry of Interior officials could not be reached for comment Monday, a national holiday.

Maj. Huot Sam Ol, commander of Chamkar Mon military police, said he received a direct complaint from Heang Rithy.

“But I think it is not a political threat,” he said. “Just a traffic incident.”

Military police would investigate, he said.

Heang Rithy said the threat was not traffic related.

Chan Soveth, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc, said Monday he received a complaint from Heang Rithy but had not yet opened an investigation. It was difficult to judge whether the threat was political or traffic related.