Showing posts with label Threat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Threat. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2012
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Cambodian newspaper editor seriously hurt in hit-and-run
19 February 2008
Source: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
Source: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is concerned to learn that an editor of a weekly newspaper in the capital Phnom Penh was seriously injured in an apparent attack over his work.
On 15 February 2008, at around 8:30 p.m. (local time), "Sakal" editor Khuon Phlay Vy, who writes under the penname Sar Keo Virak, was chased on his motorcycle by a white car that crashed into his vehicle and sped off after that, reports the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists (CAPJ), a SEAPA partner.
Khuon sustained serious bodily injuries and has been admitted to a nearby hospital.
Khuon said earlier in the morning, he received a phone call from an unidentified man who threatened him over a story he had published the same day involving an illegal gambling den in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Keng Kang II commune.
SEAPA said the case merits serious attention in the light of the verbal threat to the editor right before the hit-and-run.
SEAPA joins CAPJ in calling on the authorities to investigate the case.
"The perpetrator of this crime must not escape justice," CAPJ said in an 18 February release.
Cambodian journalists who expose wrongdoing write and publish under risk of reprisal from those implicated. CAPJ said 15 journalists received threats in 2007 for daring to bring up stories that affect the interests of the powerful and the rich. In this climate of fear and impunity, most newspapers practice self-censorship.
On 15 February 2008, at around 8:30 p.m. (local time), "Sakal" editor Khuon Phlay Vy, who writes under the penname Sar Keo Virak, was chased on his motorcycle by a white car that crashed into his vehicle and sped off after that, reports the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists (CAPJ), a SEAPA partner.
Khuon sustained serious bodily injuries and has been admitted to a nearby hospital.
Khuon said earlier in the morning, he received a phone call from an unidentified man who threatened him over a story he had published the same day involving an illegal gambling den in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Keng Kang II commune.
SEAPA said the case merits serious attention in the light of the verbal threat to the editor right before the hit-and-run.
SEAPA joins CAPJ in calling on the authorities to investigate the case.
"The perpetrator of this crime must not escape justice," CAPJ said in an 18 February release.
Cambodian journalists who expose wrongdoing write and publish under risk of reprisal from those implicated. CAPJ said 15 journalists received threats in 2007 for daring to bring up stories that affect the interests of the powerful and the rich. In this climate of fear and impunity, most newspapers practice self-censorship.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Human Rights Still Weak, UN Envoy Says [-Khieu Kanharith: "...development projects were not evicting people"]
By VOA Khmer, Reporters
Original reports from Phnom Penh & Siem Reap
10 December 2007
Original reports from Phnom Penh & Siem Reap
10 December 2007
Cambodians live in fear—of the state, swindlers, police and the courts—a UN special envoy said Monday, in the midst of a ten-day visit on International Human Rights Day.
Yash Ghai, the UN secretary-general's special human rights envoy to Cambodia, said tours of numerous communities across Cambodia demonstrated that the rights situation was getting worse.
To mark Rights Day, groups appealed to the government to halt land theft of the dispossessed and the arrests of protesters. A mass rally was held, and included the participation of Ghai and US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli.
Ghai called on people to celebrate "our common humanity and our common commitment to human rights and human dignity."
"I think it's very good sign that this march was allowed after all these years," Mussomeli said. "Things are getting a little better."
But the rights to property, freedom of expression and other basic rights have suffered in recent months, groups said.
"There is still a lack of necessary basic human rights, such as land rights, and freedom of expression," said Thun Saray, head of the rights group Adhoc.
Government officials told the Associated Press they refused to meet with Ghai, who has emerged as a sharp critique of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his policies.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said development projects were not evicting people.
"They prepared another place for the people," he said. "Now the problem is there are many people who know what places are to be developed."
Squatters who anticipate the rising value of land move in and take over, he said.
"When the authorities went, it was the people that used weapons—guns—against the authorities, who wear the king's seal," he said. "It is like this everywhere."
Meanwhile on Rights Day, labor leaders in Siem Reap say they were threatened for joining in marches on Monday.
Ken Chheng Lang, vice president of the Cambodian Construction Federation, said an anonymous caller claiming to be the provincial governor insinuated that the Federation's plans to submit a petition to the provincial governor could lead them to harm.
"I asked him who he was, where he was coming from. I asked him that," Ken Cheng Lang said. "He said, 'I am the provincial governor. You are strong? Come to my place right away. I am at the provincial hall, waiting to meet you. If you have any grief, come to meet with me, you don't have to do that. Your letter of information is big? How big is it, that letter of information.'"
Then the caller hung up.
Provincial Governor Sou Phirin said he had not called, and he would look into the allegations.
Yash Ghai, the UN secretary-general's special human rights envoy to Cambodia, said tours of numerous communities across Cambodia demonstrated that the rights situation was getting worse.
To mark Rights Day, groups appealed to the government to halt land theft of the dispossessed and the arrests of protesters. A mass rally was held, and included the participation of Ghai and US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli.
Ghai called on people to celebrate "our common humanity and our common commitment to human rights and human dignity."
"I think it's very good sign that this march was allowed after all these years," Mussomeli said. "Things are getting a little better."
But the rights to property, freedom of expression and other basic rights have suffered in recent months, groups said.
"There is still a lack of necessary basic human rights, such as land rights, and freedom of expression," said Thun Saray, head of the rights group Adhoc.
Government officials told the Associated Press they refused to meet with Ghai, who has emerged as a sharp critique of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his policies.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said development projects were not evicting people.
"They prepared another place for the people," he said. "Now the problem is there are many people who know what places are to be developed."
Squatters who anticipate the rising value of land move in and take over, he said.
"When the authorities went, it was the people that used weapons—guns—against the authorities, who wear the king's seal," he said. "It is like this everywhere."
Meanwhile on Rights Day, labor leaders in Siem Reap say they were threatened for joining in marches on Monday.
Ken Chheng Lang, vice president of the Cambodian Construction Federation, said an anonymous caller claiming to be the provincial governor insinuated that the Federation's plans to submit a petition to the provincial governor could lead them to harm.
"I asked him who he was, where he was coming from. I asked him that," Ken Cheng Lang said. "He said, 'I am the provincial governor. You are strong? Come to my place right away. I am at the provincial hall, waiting to meet you. If you have any grief, come to meet with me, you don't have to do that. Your letter of information is big? How big is it, that letter of information.'"
Then the caller hung up.
Provincial Governor Sou Phirin said he had not called, and he would look into the allegations.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Land dispute in Pate commune, Ratanakiri province
29 July 2007
By Ratha Visal
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
By Ratha Visal
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
On Friday 27 July 2007, Kong Yu villagers, in Pate commune, Ratanakiri province, rejected the report claiming that about 30 villagers recognized they indeed sold their lands and agreed to stop suing Keat Kolney – wife of Chhan Sophan, the secretary of state at the ministry of land management, urban planning and construction (and also the sister of Keat Chhon) – regarding a 500-hectare land dispute.
48-year-old Romas Tin confirmed that this was not the real intention of the villagers: “They don’t want to accept it (helping lie for Keat Kolney), but they were scared of the former village chief who threatened them.”
35-year-old Romam Mum, confirmed also that villagers lack understanding and they feared for their personal safety, that was why they forced themselves to provide their thumbprints on the declaration (helping Keat Kolney exculpate herself) presented to them by the former village chief.
Romam Mum said: “The former village chief summoned us to the hotel, they paid for the food and drink, they paid for the transportation, they paid us when we came back home 50,000 riels ($12.50). During the court session, the former village chief said to fight it.”
Puy Svanh, the former village chief, rejected the accusation made by the villagers against him: “Who forced them? Saying that I forced them? They just say whatever they want.”
Last week, Mey Sokhorn, the prosecutor of the provincial court, summoned about 30 villagers to come and clarify the 500-hectare land dispute between the villagers and Keat Kolney.
Nevertheless, Chhay Vibol, Keat Kolney’s lawyer said: “Whatever they said, it depends on the court clerk, I don’t know anything. We help them some for their trip to come here.”
Miss Ith Mathura, a lawyer for the Community Legal Education Center who is defending the ethnic minority villagers, said that she was looking for additional proofs to confirm the rejection of the report on the villagers.
Ith Mathura said: “Puy Svanh, the former village chief, forced them (villagers) to repeat what he told them, if they refused to repeat they were not allowed to come back home, and they would be sent to jail, they were threatened to repeat after him.”
Miss Sev Khem, a representative of the Kong Yu villagers, said that the villagers continue to make their claims and their lawsuit against Keat Kolney to reclaim back the community lands which were used by the villagers for ethnic traditions.
In January 2007, 12 representatives of the Kong Yu and Kong Thom villages provided thumbprints on two lawsuits rejecting the transfer of ownership on 500-hectare of lands between villagers and Keat Kolney which was concluded by the commune and village authorities. The 12 accused Keat Kolney of colluding to falsify documents tricking the villagers in a corruption scheme to occupy community lands and turning them into a rubber plantation.
48-year-old Romas Tin confirmed that this was not the real intention of the villagers: “They don’t want to accept it (helping lie for Keat Kolney), but they were scared of the former village chief who threatened them.”
35-year-old Romam Mum, confirmed also that villagers lack understanding and they feared for their personal safety, that was why they forced themselves to provide their thumbprints on the declaration (helping Keat Kolney exculpate herself) presented to them by the former village chief.
Romam Mum said: “The former village chief summoned us to the hotel, they paid for the food and drink, they paid for the transportation, they paid us when we came back home 50,000 riels ($12.50). During the court session, the former village chief said to fight it.”
Puy Svanh, the former village chief, rejected the accusation made by the villagers against him: “Who forced them? Saying that I forced them? They just say whatever they want.”
Last week, Mey Sokhorn, the prosecutor of the provincial court, summoned about 30 villagers to come and clarify the 500-hectare land dispute between the villagers and Keat Kolney.
Nevertheless, Chhay Vibol, Keat Kolney’s lawyer said: “Whatever they said, it depends on the court clerk, I don’t know anything. We help them some for their trip to come here.”
Miss Ith Mathura, a lawyer for the Community Legal Education Center who is defending the ethnic minority villagers, said that she was looking for additional proofs to confirm the rejection of the report on the villagers.
Ith Mathura said: “Puy Svanh, the former village chief, forced them (villagers) to repeat what he told them, if they refused to repeat they were not allowed to come back home, and they would be sent to jail, they were threatened to repeat after him.”
Miss Sev Khem, a representative of the Kong Yu villagers, said that the villagers continue to make their claims and their lawsuit against Keat Kolney to reclaim back the community lands which were used by the villagers for ethnic traditions.
In January 2007, 12 representatives of the Kong Yu and Kong Thom villages provided thumbprints on two lawsuits rejecting the transfer of ownership on 500-hectare of lands between villagers and Keat Kolney which was concluded by the commune and village authorities. The 12 accused Keat Kolney of colluding to falsify documents tricking the villagers in a corruption scheme to occupy community lands and turning them into a rubber plantation.
Friday, June 22, 2007
SRP official threatened for discussing about logging
Friday, June 22, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
An official of the Sam Rainsy Party from No. 1 commune, Sandan district, Kompong Thom province, was threatened after he told a VOA reporter that the local police is involved in the illegal logging operation in the Prey Long forest, located in Kompong Thom province. Duong Channy, the number 1 Meanchey commune councilor told The Cambodia Daily that he received a written warning on Tuesday following the interview he gave to VOA on Tuesday 13 June. Duong Channy also told VOA that 3 days earlier, he saw between 25 to 26 cars driven by the local police officers, transporting wood logs. Duong Channy said that a young boy gave him the letter that reads: “before you talk, you must think about it first.” However, Nuon Sila, the commune police chief, dismissed this claim by saying that this area is safe and that there is no illegal logging that takes place here.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Lim Pisith, another RFA reporter in hiding after receiving phone threat
Second RFA Reporter in Hiding After Threat
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18/06/2007
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18/06/2007
The second Radio Free Asia reporter in as many months has gone into hiding, this time following a death threat by telephone for reporting on illegal logging.
Lim Viseth, who was investigating reports of illegal logging outlined in a Global Witness report earlier this month, was hiding along the Thai border, where he spoke to VOA Khmer Monday.
"I'm concerned about my safety," Lim Viseth said.
He criticized Prime Minister Hun Sen for remarks in May aimed at another RFA reporter, Keo Nimuol, who also went into hiding.
Lim Viseth said he received a phone call Saturday, in which an unnamed caller told him, "Don't be nasty about the illegal forest report."
"Be careful," the caller said.
Lim Viseth, who was investigating reports of illegal logging outlined in a Global Witness report earlier this month, was hiding along the Thai border, where he spoke to VOA Khmer Monday.
"I'm concerned about my safety," Lim Viseth said.
He criticized Prime Minister Hun Sen for remarks in May aimed at another RFA reporter, Keo Nimuol, who also went into hiding.
Lim Viseth said he received a phone call Saturday, in which an unnamed caller told him, "Don't be nasty about the illegal forest report."
"Be careful," the caller said.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Reporter threatened with a gun on World Press Freedom Day
Friday, May 04, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
While Cambodian reporters are gathered to celebrate World Press Freedom Day on May 3, an report received from Battambang indicated that there was an army general who threatened to shoot a reporter. A number of local newspapers reported that a rich and powerful one-star general from the [Thai] border pulled out his handgun and threatened to shoot a reporter. The reporter was forced by the general to kneel in front of him to beg for pardon in a restaurant on 02 May. Chim Chenda, the victim, is a reporter for the Kampuchea Thmei newspaper, and Pol Sinuon, is the one-star army general who is also deputy director of the office of relation for the Cambodia-Thailand border. This incident occurred because the reporter called the general by his name (a sign of disrespect), infuriating the general who pulled out his handgun to threaten to shoot the reporter. Guests who participated in the banquet at the KO restaurant, criticized the general by saying that despite of the mistake committed by the reporter who called him by his name, the general should not pull his gun to try to shoot the reporter. The general took this action maybe because he was thinking that he has a lot of power, a lot of money, and wanted to show off his might in front of others.
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