Daily Times

Cambodia’s Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea for bail by detained opposition leader Kem Sokha, following his arrest last year on charges of seeking to overthrow the government.

Kem Sokha, head of the now dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested on Sept. 3 amid a crackdown on critics of authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen who has ruled the Southeast Asian country for more than 30 years.

Kem Sokha, who has denied the accusations against him, has been in pre-trial detention since September.

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from his lawyer that he be granted bail. An Appeal Court rejected bail in February.

“The Supreme Court upheld the Appeal Court’s decision”, said lawyer Pheng Heng. “I am not satisfied with the court decision,” he said, adding that Kem Sokha was not in good health when lawyers last visited him on April 30.

Rights groups have condemned the crackdown by Hun Sen’s government against opposition politicians, independent media and some non-governmental groups.

The crackdown comes ahead of a July 29 general election that Hun Sen is widely expected to win now that the CNRP has been dissolved and more than 100 of its lawmakers banned from politics. Kem Sokha was accused of plotting to overthrow the government with US help, an accusation both the United States and Kem Sokha have No date has been set for his trial.

Sale of newspaper

The purchase of The Phnom Penh Post by a Malaysian whose public relations firm lists Cambodia’s long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen as a client is a “disaster” for media freedom ahead of a general election, an international rights group said on Monday. In power for 33 years, Hun Sen and his allies have cracked down on perceived critics, opposition politicians, independent media and human rights groups ahead of the July 29 vote. The sale of the English-language daily, which has been largely critical of the government, was announced on Saturday by Australian businessman Bill Clough, who had owned the newspaper since 2008.

The new owner is Malaysian investor Sivakumar Ganapathy, an executive director at Asia Public Relations Consultants Sdn Bhd, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur.

The PR firm’s website referred to “Cambodia and Hun Sen’s entry into the Government seat” as one of its projects. It also described Ganapathy as leading a team managing “covert operations” for its clients. It did not elaborate. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said the deal was a “disaster for media freedom”, telling Reuters that “the only plausible rationale for this acquisition is to blunt the Post’s critical coverage of the government.”

Reuters called Asia PR’s headquarters seeking comment, and was told that Ganapathy was not available. In response to an email, his assistant, Krishna Kumaar, said Ganapathy was expected to return in two weeks’ time.

Calls to Asia PR’s Phnom Penh office were unanswered.

The Overseas Press Club of Cambodia (OPCC) issued a statement voicing its concerns “about the sale of The Phnom Penh Post to a Malaysian investor whose PR company is connected to Prime Minister Hun Sen.”

Huy Vannak, undersecretary of state at the Interior Ministry, told Reuters on Monday that the government welcomed “all investors” to Cambodia.

He did not specifically address links between the newspaper’s new owner and the government.

Around 30 radio stations were shut last year and The Cambodia Daily, an English-language newspaper, was closed after it was ordered to pay millions of dollars in back taxes by the government or face closure.

In a 2018 press freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders, Cambodia dropped 10 places from 132 to 142.

Founded in 1992, The Phnom Penh Post was reportedly slapped with a $5 million tax bill last year, according to reports by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Published in Daily Times, May 8^th 2018.