Cambodian reporter Mech Dara quits journalism after arrest
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.
Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Mech Dara, a Cambodian journalist arrested at the end of September for reporting on the proliferation of cyber scam centres in his country, has announced his retirement from journalism.
Detained on 30 September on charges of inciting social unrest, the 36-year-old was released after three weeks thanks to international pressure and the release of a video showing him apologising to the former leader of Cambodia, Hun Sen, and his son, current Prime Minister Hun Manet.
“I have decided that I am retiring from journalism because of the arrest, the questioning and imprisonment,” Mr Dara told Agence France Presse (AFP). “I have lost my courage,” he added.
Dara said that police questioned and threatened him. “It has attacked my spirit, and I have no more courage,” Mr Dara said, referring to the arrest and time he spent in prison.
“The questioning and then being in the prison, it really, really crushed my soul.” Dara said that he asked the court to drop the charges against him.
Prime Minister Hun Manet yesterday posted pictures of himself with Dara, including a moment when the two embraced. Dara said he had communicated his decision to the prime minister during a meeting shortly after his release.
Police detained Dara after stopping the car in which he was travelling with his family on their way out of Sihanoukville, a city known for its cyber scam activity.
According to the Cambodian Journalists’ Alliance Association, the arrest took place after the journalist posted a picture on social media purportedly showing a tourist site demolished to make way for a quarry. For local authorities, this was "fake news”.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court accused him of posting messages on social media platforms designed to “ignite anger [and] to make people misunderstand about the leadership of the Cambodian government”.
Such language is used whenever the authorities go after activists and crack down on dissenting voices.
Dara, who faces up to two years in prison if convicted, worked for Voice of Democracy, an independent broadcaster closed by the authorities in February 2023.
Since then, the journalist has used social media to document criminal operations in online scam centres and some of his reports have also appeared in international news outlets.
In 2023, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented Dara with a "Hero Award" for his investigations into human trafficking.
For Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Mr Dara’s departure will “leave a hole in the Cambodian journalistic field”.
“By repressing journalists such as Mech Dara, the Cambodian government sent a chilling message and directly threatens any remaining independent journalists in the country,” RSF’s Aleksandra Bielakowska told AFP.
Beh Lih Yi, Asia programme coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), called the story "alarming”.
“Cambodia’s once vibrant free press is a ghost of its former self after nearly four decades of Hun Sen’s iron-fisted rule. Prime Minister Hun Manet is no different from his father,” she told AFP.
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15/12/2020 09:40
