"International Outcry Grows Over Arrest of Journalist Mech Dara, Demands for Immediate Release", 2 October 2024

The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh and 49 local and international NGOs have called on the Cambodian government to immediately release local journalist Mech Dara following his arrest and pre-trial detention over an incitement charge, ...

In its joint statement, concerned NGOs and communities declared that the charge against Dara, which carries a maximum prison sentence of two years, is “a clear attempt to silence a brave journalist whose investigative journalism has routinely called for accountability in cases of human rights violations.”

The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh said it was “deeply troubled” by Dara’s arrest and called for his immediate release, citing the right to freedom of expression guaranteed in Cambodia’s constitution.

The Australian Embassy and the European Union echoed the U.S. statement, with Australia emphasizing the need for all Cambodians to exercise their right to freedom of expression without fear of arrest or persecution.

… Am Sam Ath, the Operations Director of the local human rights group LICADHO, said the court’s accusations are unjustified…

He also asserted that Dara was likely targeted due to his past reporting on human trafficking networks and cyber scam compounds in Cambodia (which have been linked to politically connected tycoons). Some of Dara’s reporting tied prominent businessman and senator Ly Yong Phat to a scam compound. Phat was recently sanctioned by the U.S. government, a move the ruling Cambodian People’s Party called “baseless and unfair.”

…, Dara won the U.S. State Department’s human trafficking Hero Award for his coverage of Cambodia’s scam compounds, where an estimated 100,000 people have been forced to work – under threat of violence – as perpetrators of online scams targeting people across the world…