Award-winning Cambodian journalist who exposed cyberscams is arrested
George Wright and Len Leng
in London and Phnom Penh
A Cambodian reporter who exposed scams charged over online postsGeorge Wright and Len Leng
in London and Phnom Penh
BBC
Mech Dara has been honoured for his work by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
Mech Dara, an award-winning Cambodian journalist who has reported extensively on human trafficking and corruption, has been arrested and charged with incitement.
Dara, who has reported for the BBC, has been charged over five social media posts which could "incite social unrest", a court spokesperson said. He faces up to two years in jail.
Last year US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken honoured him for his work exposing online scam operations based in Cambodia.
Rights groups have spoken out over his arrest, with Human Rights Watch calling on the country's government to "immediately release him".
Dara was detained after being stopped at a highway toll booth on the border of Koh Kong and Sihanouk province in south-west Cambodia on Monday.
A relative in the car with Dara told the BBC that they were waiting to go through the booth when one military police car, accompanied by five other cars, pulled up alongside them.
"We got him," one said while they were detaining Dara, his relative recounted, adding that Dara told his family not to worry as he was being taken away.
Local rights group Licadho reported that Dara messaged them, explaining that he had been arrested, before his phone was taken away.
His whereabouts were then not known for almost 24 hours, when he appeared in court in the capital Phnom Penh and was charged with incitement to commit a felony. He was sent to pre-trial detention and faces between six months and two years in jail if found guilty.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesperson Y Rin told the BBC that the charges were related to five social media posts made in September, but did not elaborate.
In a statement, the court said the Facebook posts showed "edited pictures" of a "tourist attraction" which it said were "fake".
Is said the posts were "full of ill-intention - inciting, causing anger among the public that was intended to make people think bad of the government".
The vague charge of incitement is often used in Cambodia against government critics.
One of Dara's relatives, who also works as a journalist but requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals, said Dara had been denied access to a lawyer and they were "so concerned" about his safety.
"The authorities didn't show us any official arrest warrant or court papers. I've lost hope, I’m so concerned about practising journalism in Cambodia now," the relative said.
'Every newsroom I work in gets silenced'
One of Cambodia's most prominent journalists, Mech Dara has been at the forefront of investigating the country's cyberscam compounds, which are staffed mostly by trafficked workers.
Often victims are lured by adverts promising easy work and extravagant perks. Once they arrive in the country, they are held prisoner and forced to work in online scam centres. Those who do not comply face threats to their safety. Many have been subject to torture and inhuman treatment.
Last year, Mr Blinken awarded Dara the US State Department’s human trafficking Hero Award for his work.
The US State Department said it was aware of reports of his arrest and was "following developments closely with great concern".
The US last month sanctioned powerful Cambodian tycoon and ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat, nicknamed the "king of Koh Kong" after his influence over his home province, over alleged connections to the cyberscam industry.
The Cambodian government said the sanctions were politically motivated.
Rights groups have voiced concern over Mech Dara's arrest.
Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said “Mech Dara is a respected journalist who has reported on important topics in the public interest such as online scam centres. Yet Cambodian authorities appear to have wrongfully arrested him yesterday.
"They should immediately release him.”
Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA), called Dara's arrest "outrageous and unacceptable" and "is emblematic of the Cambodian government's repressive, over the top reaction to any sort of criticism from the media".
Cambodia's independent media landscape has been hit hard in recent years, with publications including the Cambodia Daily and Voice of Democracy - both of which Dara worked for - closed down by authorities.
Mech Dara has been honoured for his work by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
Mech Dara, an award-winning Cambodian journalist who has reported extensively on human trafficking and corruption, has been arrested and charged with incitement.
Dara, who has reported for the BBC, has been charged over five social media posts which could "incite social unrest", a court spokesperson said. He faces up to two years in jail.
Last year US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken honoured him for his work exposing online scam operations based in Cambodia.
Rights groups have spoken out over his arrest, with Human Rights Watch calling on the country's government to "immediately release him".
Dara was detained after being stopped at a highway toll booth on the border of Koh Kong and Sihanouk province in south-west Cambodia on Monday.
A relative in the car with Dara told the BBC that they were waiting to go through the booth when one military police car, accompanied by five other cars, pulled up alongside them.
"We got him," one said while they were detaining Dara, his relative recounted, adding that Dara told his family not to worry as he was being taken away.
Local rights group Licadho reported that Dara messaged them, explaining that he had been arrested, before his phone was taken away.
His whereabouts were then not known for almost 24 hours, when he appeared in court in the capital Phnom Penh and was charged with incitement to commit a felony. He was sent to pre-trial detention and faces between six months and two years in jail if found guilty.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesperson Y Rin told the BBC that the charges were related to five social media posts made in September, but did not elaborate.
In a statement, the court said the Facebook posts showed "edited pictures" of a "tourist attraction" which it said were "fake".
Is said the posts were "full of ill-intention - inciting, causing anger among the public that was intended to make people think bad of the government".
The vague charge of incitement is often used in Cambodia against government critics.
One of Dara's relatives, who also works as a journalist but requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals, said Dara had been denied access to a lawyer and they were "so concerned" about his safety.
"The authorities didn't show us any official arrest warrant or court papers. I've lost hope, I’m so concerned about practising journalism in Cambodia now," the relative said.
'Every newsroom I work in gets silenced'
One of Cambodia's most prominent journalists, Mech Dara has been at the forefront of investigating the country's cyberscam compounds, which are staffed mostly by trafficked workers.
Often victims are lured by adverts promising easy work and extravagant perks. Once they arrive in the country, they are held prisoner and forced to work in online scam centres. Those who do not comply face threats to their safety. Many have been subject to torture and inhuman treatment.
Last year, Mr Blinken awarded Dara the US State Department’s human trafficking Hero Award for his work.
The US State Department said it was aware of reports of his arrest and was "following developments closely with great concern".
The US last month sanctioned powerful Cambodian tycoon and ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat, nicknamed the "king of Koh Kong" after his influence over his home province, over alleged connections to the cyberscam industry.
The Cambodian government said the sanctions were politically motivated.
Rights groups have voiced concern over Mech Dara's arrest.
Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said “Mech Dara is a respected journalist who has reported on important topics in the public interest such as online scam centres. Yet Cambodian authorities appear to have wrongfully arrested him yesterday.
"They should immediately release him.”
Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA), called Dara's arrest "outrageous and unacceptable" and "is emblematic of the Cambodian government's repressive, over the top reaction to any sort of criticism from the media".
Cambodia's independent media landscape has been hit hard in recent years, with publications including the Cambodia Daily and Voice of Democracy - both of which Dara worked for - closed down by authorities.
A Cambodian reporter who exposed online scams and corruption was charged with a criminal offense that could land him in prison for two years for material he posted on social media
Sopheng Cheang,Grant Peck
THE INDEPENDENT UK
Cambodia Press Freedom
A Cambodian investigative reporter who exposed online scams and corruption was charged on Tuesday with a criminal offense that could land him in prison for two years for material he posted on social media.
Freelance reporter Mech Dara was arrested Monday by military police at a toll booth as he was returning with his family to the capital Phnom Penh from a seaside holiday.
Ei Rin, a spokesperson for the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, told The Associated Press that Mech Dara was charged with incitement to commit a felony or cause social disorder for items he posted online on four days in late September.
A Cambodian investigative reporter who exposed online scams and corruption was charged on Tuesday with a criminal offense that could land him in prison for two years for material he posted on social media.
Freelance reporter Mech Dara was arrested Monday by military police at a toll booth as he was returning with his family to the capital Phnom Penh from a seaside holiday.
Ei Rin, a spokesperson for the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, told The Associated Press that Mech Dara was charged with incitement to commit a felony or cause social disorder for items he posted online on four days in late September.
The penalty for the offense is imprisonment for six months to two years, along with a fine. He said Mech Dara was sent to pre-trial detention at Kandal provincial prison outside the capital.
The arrest was condemned by journalists who worked with him as well as from press freedom and rights groups.
“Cambodian authorities must release and drop criminal incitement charges against investigative journalist Mech Dara,” said the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Shawn Crispin, senior Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Mech Dara’s arrest shows "just how far Cambodia’s government is willing to go to squelch independent reporting,”
About four dozen Cambodian media organizations and civil society groups issued a joint statement calling for his immediate release and to “stop all forms of harassment against media organizations and journalists.”
The statement praised Mech Dara as “a front-line investigative journalist whose stories over the last decade have uncovered corruption, environmental destruction, and human trafficking at scam compounds across the country, and has consistently pushed for accountability and justice.”
The U.S. State Department honored Mech Dara as a 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report Hero for his work exposing the problem.
Mech Dara previously worked as a journalist for the Cambodia Daily and the Phnom Penh Post, two once-vibrant English-language newspapers forced to shut down under government pressure, and the V oice of Democracy radio and website, which was closed by the government last year.
The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders in its latest report ranked Cambodia 151st out of 180 in its international press freedom index.
The immediate action that appeared to trigger Mech Dara's arrest was his posting of two photos from the southeastern province of Prey Veng that seemed to suggest that a revered mountain with a Buddhist pagoda on top was being destroyed by quarrying stone from it.
Prey Veng officials issued a statement on Facebook denying that was the case. They called on the Information Ministry to take legal action against him.
Although he has written about the environment, Mech Dara is better known for reporting on human trafficking connected to online scam operations. They involve people who are tricked into signing up for what they believe are legitimate jobs in Cambodia, only to find themselves in virtual slavery in tightly guarded compounds where they are forced to swindle online users.
In a scam known as “pig butchering,” they are taught to slowly build up a relationship of trust with their targets, often involving romance, before convincing them to hand over large amounts of money for fake investments. The practice has been going on for several years, based mostly in Cambodia and Myanmar, and recently has drawn heightened legal attention in the United States, where people have been cheated out of millions of dollars.
The United States in September imposed economic sanctions on one of Cambodia's top tycoons because of allegations tying him to forced labor, human trafficking and lucrative online scams.
Ly Yong Phat, one of Cambodia’s richest men, is also a Cambodian senator and a leading member of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party of Prime Minister Hun Manet. Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry expressed “deep regret over the unjust decision” to sanction Ly Yong Phat and suggested that the action could hurt bilateral relations.
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