US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged the Cambodian government to suspend officials found using threats and intimidation in order to secure votes in the upcoming national polls.
The rights watchdog said village and commune chiefs, nearly all representatives of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), were threatening supporters of opposition parties "with violence, expulsion from their village and denial of access to community resources."
"Threats range from being rejected for village rice distribution to having land confiscated for voting for the opposition. Intimidation is directed at political party members, local activists and voters," HRW senior legal adviser James Ross said in a statement
"While the ruling CPP has used violence in previous elections, in the current campaign it appears to have chosen a more subtle strategy to coerce villagers from voting for their preference," he said.
He added Cambodia must "swiftly suspend officials who are responsible for such threats and election-law violations."
Twenty-two political parties will contest the July 27 Cambodian polls amid intense international pressure on the government to deliver free and fair elections.
Since the official campaign began on June 26, authorities and independent election monitors have singled out eight killings where evidence suggested the motive was political and further investigations were warranted.
While the killings were significant, local and international observers say there has been much less violence in this campaign when compared with the killings which marred the lead-up to last year's local district elections.
"There does appear to be a welcome decrease in the levels of overt political violence," Ross said.
But he added this did necessarily translate into greater respect for basic civil and political rights.
He said a vote-buying campaign in the northwestern town of Siem Reap had forced villages into renouncing support for other parties in return for cash. If the CPP loses, the cash has to be repaid.
Another wave of intimidation was launched against the opposition Sam Rainsy Party in central Kompong Cham province.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of