Cambodia: Anti Government Student Activist Held over FB Post on Colour Revolution
Event- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Aug 20, 2015
- Final Date
- Mar 16, 2016
- Event Description
PHNOM PENH: Cambodian authorities have charged a student with incitement to commit a crime over an alleged Facebook post calling for a "colour revolution" in the country, a right groups said on Monday. Kong Raiya, 25, an anti-government activist, was arrested on Thursday outside a university in Phnom Penh, Am Sam Ath of local rights group Licadho told AFP. The 25-year-old man was charged by a court on Saturday with incitement to commit a felony and sent to jail pending further investigation, he said. "He was arrested because of a post on Facebook calling on people to launch a colour revolution," Am Sam Ath said. "Colour revolution" is a term used to refer to a wave of anti-government mass movements in recent years, mainly in the former Soviet bloc, although it is unclear which one the student was referencing in his post. In a Facebook post on August 7, Raiya under his profile name "Soriya Koko" said he would launch a revolution in the near future. "Does anyone dare to launch a Colour Revolution with me? Any day, in the near future I will launch a Colour Revolution in order to change the vulgar regime. Even if I am jailed or die, I have to do it," he wrote. Raiya faces up to two years in jail if convicted. Cambodian officials could not be immediately reached for comment. In recent months strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen has taken an increasingly hard line towards dissent. "His arrest is a warning to other youths," Am Sam Ath said. It also follows the recent jailing of a number of opposition members and activists for insurrection over their alleged roles in a protest that turned violent last year. A Cambodian opposition senator also faces up to 17 years in jail after a court charged him over the posting of a disputed document on Facebook about the border with Vietnam. Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-ruling leaders, marked three decades in power in January. He is regularly criticised by campaigners for stamping out dissent. UPDATE (03/06/2016) A Cambodian has become the first person to be convicted in the country over a social media post. A 24-year-old university student, Kong Raya, was sentenced to 18 months in jail on Tuesday, after being found guilty of inciting crimes with an anti-government post he made on Facebook, a Phnom Penh court said. A translated version of Raya's post, made on Aug. 7, 2015, reportedly read: "Does anyone dare to make a colour revolution with me? One day, in the future, I will make a colour revolution to change the regime for Khmer society, and even if I'm jailed or killed, I will still make it." Cambodia Daily quoted the political science undergrad outside the courtroom after the verdict, who said he would appeal the decision. "This is nothing unusual for the courts in Cambodia. It is just like this," he said, presumably referring to the length of the sentence. "This is not only unjust for me, but also unjust for the entire Cambodian people," Raya said. A "colour revolution" is an umbrella term used to refer to civil resistance movements in history. Cambodia's government has cracked down hard on protests in recent years from opposition parties. The country's leader, Hun Sen, marked his 30th anniversary in office last year, and has been the subject of criticism from global organisations like Human Rights Watch, which portray him as a iron-fisted leader with an oppressive grip over the country. Raya, a political science undergrad, was arrested back in August last year when he arrived for class at Khemarak University. Although his post threatened an uprising, he did not outline how he would mount his plan. Critics of the arrest also say his punishment was disproportionate, since he did not garner any support for his cause, nor did he successfully persuade anyone to join him. "It is just the expression of an idea, and that is not a crime," an activist at Cambodian nonprofit group Licadho, was quoted saying.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online
- Right to political participation
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 12.565679000000008
Longitude: 104.990963
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 20 August 2015, Kong Raiya, 25, an anti-government activist, was arrested and charged by authorities with incitement to commit a crime over an alleged Facebook post calling for a "colour revolution" in the country. "Colour revolution" is a term used to refer to a wave of anti-government mass movements in recent years, mainly in the former Soviet bloc, although it is unclear which one the student was referencing in his post.