03 Oct 12 | Asia and Pacific
Mam Sonando, the 71-year-old director of Cambodia’s only independent radio station, Beehive Radio, was sentenced to 20 years of prison in a Cambodian court Monday. He was found guilty in inciting a rebellion in the eastern state of Kratie, where he allegedly urged thousands of villagers to take up arms against the Cambodian government.
Sonando, who is also a prominent rights activist and the President of Cambodia’s Democrat Association, was arrested in July at the request of the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen.
Mam Sonando, director of Cambodia’s Beehive Radio
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25 Aug 11 | Index Index, minipost
The Cambodian government this month suspended land rights group Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), which had been critical of government-backed evictions as a result of a railway rehabilitation project that would link Phnom Penh to Thailand. In another development, a draft law on associations and NGOs is on verge of being passed in the country, which has faced criticism for imposing registration on grassroots movements and community-based organisations.
23 Aug 11 | Index Index, minipost
Police detained over 100 villagers in Phnom Penh last week for distributing environmental fliers used to raise awareness of deforestation and economic land concessions that have been granted inside the Prey Lang forest. Police and local officials confiscated the activists’ leaflets and detained participants in local commune offices for questioning and “re-education.” Police said the distribution of fliers could “disrupt social order.”
15 Aug 11 | Index Index, minipost
Two newspapers critical of the Cambodian ruling party were shut down permanently, while five men were convicted of “provocation” for distributing pamphlets critical of the state last week, according to the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR). The pamphlets discussed the Cambodian government’s ties to the Vietnamese government, accusing Prime Minister Hun Sen of selling land to foreign countries and referring to him as a “traitor” and a “puppet of Vietnam.” Newspapers The Water and Fire News and The World News were ordered to stop publishing as of 3 August and had their licenses revoked due to perceived insult to the Ministry of Information.
