The Cambodian government yesterday defended the arrest and detention of two human rights activists on criminal defamation charges for criticizing Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Critics, however, said the latest action shows the government is veering toward authoritarian rule.
Kem Sokha, director of the US-funded Cambodian Center of Human Rights, and Yeng Virak, head of the Community Legal Education Center, were arrested on Saturday. They are being held in prison pending trial on criminal defamation charges.
Khieu Kanharith, the government spokesman and information minister, said the government has sued the two men over a critical banner they displayed during a gathering on International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.
He said the banner labeled Hun Sen as a "communist" and a "traitor who has sold away [Cambodian] land to Vietnam."
"We have already stated in the past that this [accusation] is very serious," he said, denying the government is cracking down on freedom of expression.
The Cambodian government has sued several people for their criticism of a border demarcation pact Hun Sen signed with Vietnam in October.
US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli, among several foreigners who gathered outside the center to observe Kem Sokha's arrest, described it as "another step down the wrong path" for Cambodia, adding, "there is not much left to a real democracy."
He said the action showed that the government was afraid of free speech.
"And when governments are afraid, they make foolish decisions, and this is foolish and unfortunate," he told reporters on Saturday.
Police raided the office of the human rights center and arrested Kem Sokha after a standoff of several hours early on Saturday. Later that day, they arrested Yeng Virak.
Both men have been charged with defamation and slander stemming from the banner. Their respective organizations were among several civic groups that organized the Dec. 10 event, according to Som Chandyna, the lawyer for Kem Sokha.
The lawyer said Kem Sokha was being wrongly held responsible for the criticism as he was outside Cambodia on the day of the gathering in the capital Phnom Penh.
Huon Chundy, a lawyer for Yeng Virak, said his client has been unfairly held accountable for the critical message on the banner.
The arrest followed the Dec. 22 conviction of opposition leader Sam Rainsy for defaming Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh, head of the National Assembly.
Sam Rainsy is currently living in exile in France.
His party, which bears his name, Saturday called on the international community ``to take practical measures to prevent dictatorship ... in Cambodia.''
The latest event ``has shown that freedom of expression is now finished'' as ``the current government is moving toward the cruelest authoritarian regime,'' a party statement said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not