(SEAPA/IFEX) – The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has welcomed the temporary release of four prominent government critics from a Phnom Penh prison on 17 January 2006, but has also called for the dropping of the defamation charges against them and the eventual repeal of criminal defamation. “The step taken by Prime Minister Hun Sen […]
(SEAPA/IFEX) – The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has welcomed the temporary release of four prominent government critics from a Phnom Penh prison on 17 January 2006, but has also called for the dropping of the defamation charges against them and the eventual repeal of criminal defamation.
“The step taken by Prime Minister Hun Sen is just the tip of the iceberg in the Cambodian government’s efforts to address the global concern over a back-sliding in the country’s commitment towards democratic principles and free expression,” SEAPA noted.
Thanks to the intervention of a visiting U.S. official, Mam Sonando, Director of the popular Beehive FM radio station, Rong Chhun, President of Cambodia’s Independent Teachers’ Association, Kem Sokha, Director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), and Pa Nguon Tieng, Deputy Director of CCHR, were released from Preysar prison. The charges filed against them have not been dropped.
They had been charged with defaming Hun Sen over the government’s border agreement with Vietnam. Mam Sonando and Rong Chhun have been in jail since October while Kem Sokha was arrested last 31 December 2005 and his colleague was jailed on 4 January.
Their release followed a meeting between government officials and Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who was in Cambodia for the inauguration of the new U.S. embassy building there. Hun Sen called their release “a gift to Christopher Hill on the inauguration of the new U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh”, according to the Prime Minister’s adviser, Om Yentieng.
Hun Sen has been criticised by the international community for violating the principles of human rights and free expression by arresting and jailing his critics.
“In order for the government to regain the trust and confidence of the Cambodian people and the international community that it will genuinely protect and promote democracy and human rights, it has to drop all defamation charges against these critics, and must decriminalise defamation once and for all,” said SEAPA.
Under the Ministry of Justice’s draft penal code, to be submitted to the National Assembly in April, defamation would remain an offense punishable by a jail term of up to six months, and a fine of up to US $50.
Community Legal Education Center legal advisor Henry Hwang told the “Cambodia Daily” earlier that the draft defamation article appears to be an improvement.
“The fines are less severe, there is a statute of limitations and it contains some procedural steps,” Wang was quoted as saying on 13 January. “But it still contains what many consider to be its largest shortcoming – a jail term for defamation.”
BACKGROUND:
The new penal code would replace the 1992 Untac law that defines defamation as punishable by up to a year in prison. Justice Ministry officials say defamation legislation is still necessary to protect people’s individual rights and dignity.
The new draft defines defamation as any allegation or imputation made in bad faith or an act which harms the honor or reputation of a person or institution.
Statements made in public places or public gatherings, writings or drawings distributed or shown in public that harm people or institutions’ reputations constitute defamation under the draft.
Libelous remarks made toward or about a member of the government can be investigated when a complaint is filed by the person or the minister they work for, the article adds.
