The 36-year-old reporter who documented online scam centres in Sihanoukville was released on bail three weeks after his arrest in late September, following apologies to former Prime Minister Hun Sen and his son, current Prime Minister Hun Manet. Dara explained that detention and police threats have undermined his spirit.
On the sidelines of the synod sessions, the wheelchair made in Phnom Pen, representing universal dignity, was gifted to the Pontiff. Named after the longest river in Indochina, it improves the existence of people affected by mines and cluster bombs. Jesuit Enrique Figaredo, apostolic prefect of Battambang: it is a ‘sacrament’ because it changes the inner life of those who receive it.
Cambodia’s best-known independent journalist still active despite ongoing repression has been arrested. His posts on social media on environmental damage caused by stone quarries were probably the pretext used by the authorities to detain him on charges of causing “social disorder". Dara was also actively reporting on online scams by transnational crime syndicates employing people in slave-like conditions. He joins about a hundred political prisoners already in detention in Cambodia.
On the feast day of the saint of the marginalised, Fr Alberto Caccaro, a PIME missionary in Cambodia, remembers celebrating the Eucharist with the Missionaries of Charity in their house on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. When he distributes the Communion, he is happy that Jesus, “the Bread of Heaven”, comes to rest on the “visibly damaged hands” of people “that no one else would take in”.
A video of three activists denouncing decades-old land concessions triggered a new crackdown on dissent. Capital armored to prevent demonstrations that exiled opposition leaders had called for Aug. 18. Hun Manet: “We will not tolerate protests against the government like those that took place in Bagladesh.”
Today's headlines: Iran arrested a street female performer for singing in public without headcover. Purges continue in Vietnam, where a tycoon was sentenced to 21 years for fraud. Tomorrow in Jeddah, the OIC will meet to discuss Haniyeh’s assassination at the request of Pakistan and Iran. Cambodia’s prime minister is set to launch the controversial Funan Techo project. China and Kazakhstan plan to jointly build a lunar station.
