By:
• Cambodianess

• October 6, 2024 , 10:00 AM

Following the outpouring of statements by international journalist associations after the arrest on Sept. 30 of Cambodian journalist Mech Dara and the legal proceedings brought against him for "inciting social unrest," the Ministry of Information has, unsurprisingly, responded by issuing a blanket dismissal of all criticism.

This arrest came after a complaint for dissemination of false information was filed by the authorities of Prey Veng province following Mech Dara posting on social media photos—now inaccessible—of quarrying work damaging the stairs leading to a famed religious site.  

According to a spokesman of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court quoted in the media, Mech Dara posted during the month of September several provocative messages and took photos of the Ba Phnom resort that were “provocative” and “false.” And, according to the Phnom Penh court, he would have acknowledged the facts. 

In their messages of protest, the international journalist associations, which request his immediate release and to have the charges dropped, point out that, in 2023, Mech Dara received the “Trafficking in Persons Report Hero Award” from U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken for his news coverage exposing online scam operations in Cambodia and human trafficking linked to those scams. These associations consider that the charges against the journalist are in fact an attempt to prevent him from continuing his investigative journalism work.  

However, in an official press release, the Ministry of Information noted that “[t]he database of the General Department of Information and Broadcasting of the Ministry of Information shows Mech Dara’s Journalist ID card has expired since the end of 2022 and there has been no renewal request so far, neither as a member of media outlet nor as a freelancer.” The ministry concluded curtly by saying that “[t]he criminal act of an individual must not be used to assess the state of the press in Cambodia.”

Should we conclude that the recognition of a journalist’s status from now on would depend on the issuance of a journalist ID card by the ministry. If this was the case, this would seriously undermine a fundamental principle of the freedom of the press anywhere in the world: its independence and that of journalists in relation to power. If there is a criteria to evaluate freedom of the press wherever on the planet, it is this one. In that sense, the Mech Dara case concerns the entire profession. Whether or not he is registered in the ministry’s database.