Oct. 7, 2024, 5:06 p.m.
The recent arrest of a longtime investigative journalist in Cambodia has sparked an outpouring of concern from the international community and U.S. lawmakers, who say the move will have a chilling effect on the country’s already decimated media landscape.
Mech Dara, a journalist who received the the Hero Award last year from Secretary of State Antony Blinken for courage in journalism, was arrested Sept. 30 when traveling to the capital Phnom Penh from the Cambodian region of Sihanoukville, the center of much of his reporting over the years. Authorities charged him with incitement over several social media posts, a charge that carries a two-year maximum sentence.
In a statement, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi argued that Dara “must be treated fairly and humanely by the Cambodian authorities.”
“Freedom of press is essential to democracy, and must be adhered to,” he said.
In an email to National Journal, a State Department spokesperson, who spoke on background, said the U.S. had raised Dara’s case “at multiple levels in Cambodia and Washington” and is calling on the Cambodian government for his immediate release.
“He has long been an advocate for the freedom of expression, a right guaranteed in Cambodia’s constitution. We encourage the authorities to engage with diverse voices and opinions and foster a free and independent press,” the spokesperson said. “In our calls we made clear our concerns and called for his release. We have also underscored that journalists like Dara should be able to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms without fear of reprisal.”
Cambodia was once a rare example of media freedom in Southeast Asia, with many competing publications in both English and in the native Khmer language. But in 2017, the government, led by then-Prime Minister Hun Sen—a former Khmer Rouge general who maintained a firm grip over the country from the mid-1980s until he ceded power to his son last year—began systematically closing all independent media outlets. Reporters Without Borders ranked Cambodia 151st out of 180 in its latest international press freedom index.
Dara previously worked as a journalist for the Cambodia Daily and The Phnom Penh Post, two English-language newspapers that were eventually shuttered. He later worked for the independent investigative reporting outlet Voice of Democracy, until Hun Sen revoked its operating license last year. He has worked as an independent journalist ever since, investigating government-affiliated transnational crime, human rights abuses, human trafficking, and cyberscams, among other topics.
The arrest appears to have taken place due to several photographs the journalist posted on his personal Facebook page showing Buddhist religious sites damaged by the removal of quarry stones. Local officials denied that the site was destroyed and released a statement on Facebook calling on the government to take action against Dara. Witnesses later said that Dara was traveling with his family when a vehicle with Royal Gendarmerie of Cambodia insignia and five additional unmarked vehicles stopped his car and arrested the reporter.
"The fact that six cars of gendarmes swooped in to arrest journalist Mech Dara is emblematic of the Cambodian government's repressive, over-the-top reaction to any sort of criticism from the media,” Phil Robertson, the director of the organization Asia Human Rights Labor Advocates, told National Journal. “Arresting Mech Dara for a social media post is both outrageous and unacceptable and reveals Prime Minister Hun Manet's preference for spoon-feeding government propaganda to the public instead of allowing any sort of freedom of the press.”
Robertson added that there’s “no doubt the Cambodian authorities are retaliating against Mech Dara for his investigative reporting.”
More specifically, the U.S. Treasury Department moved to sanction a member of Cambodia’s ruling party last month due to revelations in Dara’s reporting that the Cambodian tycoon was involved in a complex network of online scams run primarily by Chinese gangs that use forced labor to defraud people around the globe, including U.S. citizens.
“The U.S. Treasury's long overdue action to sanction ruling party Sen. Ly Yong Phat for his extensive engagement with these criminal networks is based in part on Mech Dara's work, so it's not surprising PM Hun Manet's government is going after this courageous investigative reporter,” Robertson said. “Ly Yong Phat is not just a senior elite, but he's a permanent member of the Central Committee of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, and a senior adviser to [Prime Minister] Hun Manet as well as his father, former leader and CPP Chairman Hun Sen.”
Numerous international organizations and governments have called on the Cambodian government to drop the charges against the journalist. The Cambodia-based human rights group Licadho released a statement endorsed by nearly 50 rights groups calling on the Cambodian government to “release him from prison and stop all forms of harassment against media organizations and journalists.”
Parliamentarians from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also condemned the arrest.
“The Cambodian government must release Mr. Dara immediately and unconditionally,” said Mercy Chriesty Barends, a member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives and a representative of the organization ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
The Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International, the International Anti-Corruption Conference, and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime were just a few international organizations raising concern about the arrest.
Marc Thayre, the deputy head of mission for the British embassy in Phnom Penh, released a statement calling the charges against Dara “deeply troubling” and “a further blow to media freedom in Cambodia.” The Australian embassy in Phnom Penh similarly expressed deep concern over the arrest.
The Hun Sen government and the government of his son, current Prime Minister Hun Manet, have a long history of jailing political opponents and government critics to quell dissent.
“The charges against Mech Dara show yet again that the Cambodian government will not hesitate to repress journalists,” said Kate Schuetze, Amnesty International’s Acting Deputy Regional Director for Research. “This is the latest step in the new government’s campaign to erase press freedom.”
Editor’s note: Cristina Maza was a reporter at The Phnom Penh Post at the same time as Mech Dara.
