On 30 September, the Cambodian investigative journalist Mech Dara was detained by members of the country’s Royal Gendarmerie, a paramilitary unit responsible for domestic security. His car was intercepted on an expressway while he was travelling towards Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. His arrest took place shortly after local officials in the Prey Veng province accused him of attempting to cause ‘social disorder or confusion’ over a since-deleted social media post that reportedly included an image of a quarry excavation at the Ba Phnom religious and cultural site. 

On 1 October, Dara was taken to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, where he was charged with ‘incitement to disturb social security’ under articles 494 and 495 of the Cambodian Criminal Code for publishing several ‘provocative’ social media posts before being placed in pretrial detention. The following day, Cambodia’s Ministry of Information issued a statement claiming that the case against Dara was unrelated to his journalism and warned NGOs and ‘other involved parties’ against ‘making false and baseless claims of Cambodia’s state of the press’. Hours later, a government spokesperson issued a follow-up statement on social media, rebuking civil society organisations and accusing them of ‘defending those who create fake news’.

Dara has worked for numerous independent Cambodian news outlets, including the Phnom Penh Post, the Cambodia Daily and Voice of Democracy, which the government forced to close in 2023. Dara’s detention has been condemned by local groups, the EU and government representatives from Australia, Canada, France, the UK and the USA, as well as UN experts and lobby groups such as PEN and Amnesty International. ‘Dara’s unjust detention is just the latest example of the Cambodian government’s efforts to silence independent media through intimidation and abuse of the legal system. His detention – and the authorities’ alarming clampdown on legitimate expression – must end at once,’ said Ma Thida, chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.

A charge of incitement can result in a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment and has been routinely used by the Cambodian authorities to stifle dissenting voices and independent media. Journalists are frequently accused of incitement in apparent retaliation for their reporting of politically sensitive topics. Dara has led the way in exposing government corruption and the role that transnational criminal networks play in facilitating human trafficking in Cambodia. His arrest took place just two weeks after the US government placed financial sanctions on Ly Yong Phat, a business tycoon and Cambodian senator, for serious human rights abuses, including human trafficking and the use of forced labour in online-scam centres, also known as ‘fraud factories’. Lured by the promise of lucrative employment, many foreign workers, often very young, are tricked into travelling to Cambodia and end up forced into illegal online activities, including cryptocurrency fraud, money laundering and unlicensed gambling. Dara had reported on Ly Yong Phat’s links to criminal networks the day before his arrest. Previously, Dara has been recognised by the US State Department as a Trafficking in Persons Report Hero. He received his award in person from the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in 2023.

Under the rule of Hun Sen, Cambodia’s long-standing prime minister, who stepped down in August 2023 after nearly four decades of rule, political opponents were imprisoned or forced into exile and freedom of expression was supressed. Hun Sen was succeeded as prime minister by his eldest son, Hun Manet, who achieved a landslide victory in elections held without any significant opposition. Hun Sen was swiftly approved as president of the senate, which allows the former prime minister to serve as acting head of state when the king is overseas.

The UN Human Rights Committee has expressed deep concern over persistent violations of freedom of expression by the Cambodian authorities and has reported the closure of media outlets, the blocking of websites that contain content critical of the government and the use of criminal charges, including charges of criminal defamation, to restrict freedom of expression. New legislation, including the Sub-Decree on the Establishment of the National Internet Gateway, gives the Cambodian government sweeping powers to monitor and censor online expression. Many journalists have been subjected to surveillance or experienced some form of interference in carrying out their work. This has had a profound impact on freedom of expression in the country, resulting in many dissidents choosing to self-censor to avoid criminal charges.

Readers might like to send appeals urging the Cambodian government to immediately and unconditionally release investigative journalist Mech Dara following his arrest on trumped-up charges of incitement to disturb social security, and calling on the authorities to abide by their national and international human rights obligations and to uphold the right to freedom of expression, in accordance with article 41 of Cambodia’s constitution.

Appeals to be addressed to:

Hun Manet
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia
Email: leewood_phu@nida.gov.kh / cppparty@gmail.com

Koeut Rith
Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Cambodia
Email: moj@cambodia.gov.kh

His Excellency Ney Samol
Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United Nations
Email: camemb.gva@mfaic.gov.kh

Her Excellency Tuot Panha,
Royal Embassy of Cambodia
64 Brondesbury Park
London NW6 7AT
Fax: 020 8451 7594
Email: info@cambodiaembassyuk.org.uk