Mech Dara, an award-winning Cambodian journalist, was arrested on Monday and subsequently charged with incitement on Tuesday by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. The charges, under articles 494 and 495 of the Cambodian Criminal Code, accuse Dara of “incitement to disturb social security” and carry the potential for a prison sentence of up to two years.
Dara’s arrest followed his social media posts, now deleted, that included pictures purporting to show quarry damage to Ba Phnom, a sacred mountain near a Buddhist pagoda in Prey Veng province. Local authorities rejected the claims and called for legal action, accusing Dara of spreading misinformation and attempting to create social unrest.
The arrest has spurred widespread concern among international rights groups and media organizations. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the arrest, while a joint statement from various media organizations and civil society groups urged the Cambodian government to drop all charges. The community voiced concerns that the arrest represents an attempt to intimidate and silence journalists in a country where press freedoms are curtailed. Cambodia currently ranks 151st out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.
The Ministry of Information responded to the criticism with a statement asserting that Dara’s arrest was unrelated to his journalism. The Ministry urged NGOs and other groups to avoid martyring Dara and using his case to promote “false and baseless” claims about the state of press freedom in Cambodia.
Dara, a notable journalist, received the US State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report Hero award for his reporting on human trafficking and online scam operations in Cambodia. His work has highlighted scam compounds where victims are coerced into fraudulent activities under threats of violence.