Phnom Penh, Cambodia:
A high-profile Cambodian reporter who gained a global award for uncovering alleged cyber scams advised AFP Tuesday that he’s quitting journalism, saying he has misplaced “braveness” after being arrested by the authorities and freed on bail.
Police arrested Mech Dara on September 30 on fees of inciting social dysfunction, drawing condemnation from world wide.
He was launched on bail three weeks later after apologising to Cambodia’s former chief Hun Sen and his son Prime Minister Hun Manet in a video shot whereas he was in jail.
“I’ve determined that I’m retiring from journalism due to the arrest, the questioning and imprisonment,” Dara advised AFP.
“I’m nonetheless afraid,” he mentioned, including that authorities used extreme pressure throughout his arrest, then questioned him all evening afterwards.
“I’ve misplaced my braveness. It has attacked my spirit, and I’ve no extra braveness,” Dara mentioned, referring to the arrest and time he spent in jail.
He additionally urged the courtroom to drop the fees in opposition to him.
Hun Manet on Monday posted photos of him assembly Dara, together with one exhibiting the pair embracing each other.
Dara mentioned he knowledgeable Hun Manet of his determination to give up journalism throughout the assembly, which befell a day after his launch.
Rip-off farm reporting
Police detained Dara, 36, after stopping a automotive carrying him and his household from Sihanoukville, a coastal metropolis the place many suspected cyber rip-off operations happen.
His reporting has appeared in numerous worldwide information shops and he labored for the unbiased Voice of Democracy in Cambodia earlier than the authorities shut it down in February 2023.
Dara has since used his social media platforms to share information content material, notably across the proliferation of “rip-off farms” — legal operations that defraud victims on-line for huge sums of cash and gasoline human trafficking throughout the area.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken final yr introduced Dara with a Hero Award, which recognises efforts in opposition to human trafficking, for investigations into exploitation on the on-line rip-off compounds.
The award hailed his “brave reporting on human trafficking for the aim of pressured criminality”, saying it had led to the federal government enhancing its response to the issue.
His arrest got here a day after he posted a picture on social media purportedly exhibiting a vacationer website demolished to make means for a quarry, based on the Cambodian Journalists’ Alliance Affiliation.
Native authorities labelled the now-deleted photographs “faux information” and known as for Dara to face punishment for his or her publication.
After asserting fees in opposition to Dara, the Phnom Penh Municipal Courtroom accused him of posting messages on social media platforms designed to “ignite anger (and) to make individuals misunderstand concerning the management of the Cambodian authorities”.
The cost of incitement is regularly utilized by Cambodian authorities in opposition to activists, and Dara may withstand two years in jail if convicted.
Cambodia locations close to the underside of worldwide press freedom rankings and rights teams have lengthy accused the federal government of utilizing authorized instances as a software to silence dissenting voices.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
