Uwazi

Sitanan Satsaksit was on the phone to her brother early in the evening on 4 June when he told her to hold the line. Wanchalearm, also known as Tar, was handing over a few dollars for meatballs at a stall opposite his home in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

Then Sitanan heard noise coming from the other end of the line.

"I heard a loud bang. At first I thought he had a car accident as he shouted 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe,'" she tells the BBC.

Sitanan could hear the screams of her brother as men shouted in Khmer, a language she doesn't understand.

But her brother had not been hit by a car - he was being kidnapped.

Witnesses at the scene say they saw a group of armed men bundling Wanchalearm into a black SUV. As he shouted for help in Khmer, some people started moving towards him, but the armed abductors warned them to back off, before speeding away.

Confused and terrified, Sitanan could hear the muffled voice of her brother for another 30 minutes. Then the line went dead.

A friend of Wanchalearm made some inquiries for her.

"Twenty minutes later, this person called me back to say: 'Keep calm sister, Tar was abducted,'" she recalls.

Wanchalearm Satsaksit, 37, a prominent Thai pro-democracy activist who had lived in exile in Cambodia since 2014, has not been seen since. He is the ninth exiled critic of Thailand's military and monarchy to become a victim of enforced disappearance in recent years.

A popular and colourful character, Wanchalearm's activism started more than a decade ago, primarily focusing on gender and LGBT rights in Thailand. Over time, his interest started to shift to broader calls for democracy in the country, says Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch Asia and friend of Wanchalearm.

By the time of the 2014 military coup led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, Wanchalearm was affiliated with the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), also known as the Red Shirts. The group was first formed in 2006 to oppose an earlier military coup which overthrew then prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Wanchalearm was angered by what he saw as yet another affront to democracy by the military in 2014. The new junta wasted little time in rooting out its critics.

Soon after the coup, Wanchalearm's face appeared on TV and he was called to attend a meeting at a military camp, Sunai says. He didn't turn up. Wanchalearm knew this meant he needed to flee his homeland and start a new life in Cambodia.

Once in Phnom Penh, Wanchalearm settled into his new surroundings. But while he had swapped the dangers of Thailand for relative safety in the leafy outskirts of the Cambodian capital, he was still building up an online following in his homeland through his witty takedowns of the Thai government.

"He sees himself as a satirist, almost like a political comedian," Sunai says. "He made fun continuously of the military junta. He made fun of Gen Prayuth, who at that time was leader of the coup group, he made fun of other generals.

"He exposed what he considered to be stupid blunders of the junta using the dialect of north-easterners," he adds. "Most of them are poor and he is from that region. He did it to show that a commoner can make fun of those in power. That seemed to be the way of getting even with the oppressors."

But his playful poking did not go unnoticed.

In June 2018, Thai authorities issued an arrest warrant for Wanchalearm based on allegations he violated the Computer-Related Crime Act - which criminalises writing that incites unrest - through his Facebook page. The police vowed to bring him back to Thailand.

Wanchalearm was just one of many Thai exiles speaking out from the perceived safety of a neighbouring country. But in reality, doing so is becoming increasingly perilous.

At least eight other pro-democracy activists have disappeared since the 2014 coup.

The bodies of exiled critics Chatcharn Buppawan and Kraidej Luelert were found disembowelled and stuffed with concrete along the Mekong River border with Laos last year. The Thai army says it had no knowledge of what had happened. Jakrapob Penkair, who served as government spokesman under Thaksin Shinawatra, has been living in exile since 2009 after he says he received a tip-off that he was to be killed. He has known Wanchalearm for many years.

Speaking to the BBC from an undisclosed location, Jakrapob says he was shocked by his friend's disappearance due to the light-hearted nature of his activism. He sees almost no chance that Wanchalearm is still alive.

"I think the message is: 'Let's kill these folks. These are outsiders, these are people who are different from us and they should be killed in order to bring Thailand back to normalcy,'" he says.

"But nothing could be more wrong in that interpretation. I believe their decision to kidnap and murder Tar, and others before him, has been subconsciously radicalising the people.

"Like it or not, I think Tar's disappearance and his murder could be a turning point."

Wanchalearm's disappearance sparked protests in Bangkok, with demonstrators accusing the Thai government of involvement, while demanding the Cambodian government investigate the case fully. Posters of Wanchalearm and other disappeared activists have been cropping up around the city.

#SaveWanchalearm was trending on Thai Twitter in the days following his abduction.

The hashtag "#abolish112" was also written or retweeted more than 450,000 times. This is a reference to Article 112 of Thailand's criminal code, which states: "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, Heir-Apparent or Regent shall be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years".

Some of the disappeared dissidents were accused of violating the article. Any public questioning of the monarchy in Thailand was until recently almost unheard of.

Many activists believe this abduction is linked to the palace, but the strict laws against any negative comment on the monarchy make this a dangerous link to explore or investigate.

Despite widespread outrage over the kidnapping of Wanchalearm, few are holding out much hope for his return.

"The abduction is not for money, it's not a private matter. There is no need to keep him alive," says Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, a prominent activist who served seven years in jail on charges of lese majeste - or "insulting the monarchy" - and defamation.

"The objective of kidnapping is to kill him and to create the atmosphere of fear in Thailand and other countries where [Thai] people are active in criticising the monarchy," adds Somyot, whose daughter was once in a long-term relationship with Wanchalearm.

Somyot was in little doubt as to who was behind the disappearance.

"The government knows very well about this kidnap and disappearance. I can insist that the government are the ones behind this violation," he says.

Thai government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat told the BBC: "We have no idea what happened to him.

"We don't do anything in that category of invading into other countries. They have their own law and control," she said.

"The person who can answer that question best should be the government of Cambodia because they know what happened in that country to this person."

In response to questions raised by opposition politicians in parliament, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said that Wanchalearm did not have political refugee status, so Thailand had to wait for Cambodia to finish its investigation.

The spokesman of the Cambodian interior ministry did not respond to requests for comment. A justice ministry spokesman told Voice of Democracy last week that investigations are under way to ascertain "whether the news is true or not".

Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said: "Cambodia and Laos have obviously decided to look the other way as now nine prominent Thai exiles have been abducted, and likely killed, by unknown men."

The Thai government is pursuing a "quid pro quo" with its two neighbours, he said, accusing Bangkok of making Thailand "off limits" to Cambodian opposition figures.

"You can be sure there will be more refugees on the chopping block unless governments around the world start publicly demanding answers and accountability from leaders of these three rights abusing governments," he said.

Sunai Phasuk says Cambodia must investigate fully what has happened to Wanchalearm if it expects to be seen as a country that has "improved from a lawless society into a country with due process".

"A crime like this cannot happen in broad daylight. This is a test case for Cambodia," he says.

But Sitanan has little hope of ever seeing Wanchalearm alive again and is just trying to make sense of why someone would want to kill her younger brother.

"I want to know if someone has his own opinion, does he need to be so severely punished?" she asks.

"He didn't rob anyone, he didn't rape anyone. He just thinks differently. Do you really need to kill him?"

Sneha Cheat journalist Keo Hour is arrested by a group of police officers in Kampong Chhnang’s provincial capital af ter Huo interviewed peaceful protestors who had gathered outside the Chieb commune office over a land conf lict earlier in May. He is not told the reason for his arrest. He was subsequently bailed, but the criminal charges remain over his head.

A member of the Prey Lang Community Network,a local activist group of volunteer forest rangers that has been risking their lives to peaceably protect the area from illegal logging and large-scale land-grabbing since 2007., is threatened by a known timber trader with political connections while taking photos of illegal timber being transported at night. The trader confiscated the forest activist’s phone and filed a complaint at the district militar y police station demanding compensation for having taken photos of him without permission.

Several members of Cambodian youth group Khmer Thavrak including human rights activist Hun Vannak are arrested and held for hours of questioning at the Battambang provincial police station for their involvement in a peaceful protest calling on microfinance institutions (MFIs) and banks to suspend loan repayments among the economic crisis caused by COVID-19. Four monks from different pagodas were also threatened with expulsion from their pagodas for joining the non-violent demonstrations.

Roughly 40 youth and environmental activists including Natural Resources Protection Group (NRPG) president Chheuy Odorm Reaksmey, the son of murdered environmental activist Chut Wutty, are stopped from gathering in Prey Lang forest to commemorate the anniversar y of Wutty’s death by ten armed environmental rangers and threatened with arrest. The armed men were led by provincial environment department chief Meas Nhoem, as well as the Rovieng deputy district governor and accompanied by local health officials who claimed that the ban was intended to stop the spread of COVID-19. The next day, commander of Intervention Brigade No. 3 Srey Deuk sent 50 soldiers into the forest to search for five environmental activists – Ouch Leng, Khem Sokhy, Srey Thei, Srey Tin and Heng Srar – who had attended the event.

A community representative and four CCFC staff are prevented from conducting a training on human rights and farming to a group of 30 villagers in Prey Veng province’s Ba Phnom district. The staff, who were working to set up a community saving group, were threatened with arrest by the deputy commune police chief if they continued with the training.

Ten volunteer staff from a local wild life, forests and fisheries protection and conservation organisation are illegally detained by armed forces in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nob district while monitoring sand-dredging activities in the coastal province. Af ter eight months in pre-trial detention, they are handed a suspended sentence of two years in prison.

Sok Kin, president of the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union of Cambodia (BWTUC) is harassed by local authorities on the orders of Sen Sok district governor Mouv Manit while conducting a meeting with donors and colleagues at his office in Phnom Penh. Authorities demanded to know the reason for the meeting, accused Kin of not having sought permission from local officials and allegedly urged the union official to join the ruling party.

A community representative in Preah Sihanouk province is threatened with arrest by a deputy district police chief af ter more than a hundred people from ten different communities, including six affected by land conf licts across the province, planned to celebrate International Human Rights Day. Members of the communities locked in land disputes had thumbprinted a petition calling on local authorities to find a resolution to the conf licts.

A monk living in a forest pagoda in Kampong Speu province is woken by gunshots fired at the temple’s pillars by an unknown shooter. The monk, who had previously joined in environmental activism alongside the Mother Nature movement and worked to protect the wild trees and animals of his forest home, also found a threatening message stuck on a tree warning that there would be no peace if the “bad monk” continued his activism.

Community land activist Ther Then is arrested by police in Kampong Thom province’s Stoung district and sent to the provincial prison af ter giving an interview to Radio Free Asia (RFA). The warrant, which accused Then of giving false information to the radio station, was issued following a complaint filed by Korm Saroeurn, former advisor to interior minister Sar Kheng. On March 12, 2019, Ther Then had shared with RFA grievances of local residents with regards to access to water to irrigate their fields.

An ADHOC rights worker in Kampong Cham province is threatened over the phone by the commune police chief af ter holding a meeting with 35 local community members to discuss freedom of expression.

24-year-old rapper Chhun Dymey is confronted by two police officers in Siem Reap who demand to see his birth certificate, job and family book. Dymey had recently released a song – “This Society” – lashing out at widespread social injustice including corruption, the plight of poor communities and ongoing land disputes. Dymey later took the song down from his social media accounts.

More than 60 people from four different communities across Kampong Cham province’s Memot district are prevented from celebrating International Women’s Day by Memot district governor Cheng Bunna, who along with commune officials claimed that the communities had not registered their plans with local authorities. A Tunlong community representative is threatened with imprisonment if the celebrations go ahead as planned.

The Venerable Hor Sokhon, the chief monk of Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov pagoda, is forcibly defrocked by high-ranking officials from the Ministr y of Cults and Religion before a mixed force of more than 50 police officers on the orders of the capital’s governor Khuong Sreng. Sokhon had posted content on social media criticising the government’s failure to retain full tariff-free access to the European Union through the Ever ything but Arms (EBA) trade scheme due to ongoing human rights abuses in Cambodia.

Mok Heng and Chhoem Chhuon, village representatives from Kampong Thom province’s Prasat Balangk district, are illegally arrested and beaten by police before being sent for questioning at the provincial station. The two men are forced to thumbprint a document turning their land and threatened with imprisonment should they continue to protest against a 2016 land grab that saw almost 1200 hectares of farmland occupied by 586 families seized and cleared to make way for a World Bank-funded social land concession. Another land representative, Eang Sokmeng, was arrested in June and charged with intentional physical assault.

Four community land representatives including Hoam Nai, Rom San, Say Tay and Srok Lang in Tbong Khmum’s Memot district are summoned to the Tonlung commune office for questioning over a long-running land dispute with businessman Chhun Savuth. The four representatives were forced to thumbprint a contract agreeing not to organize community protests or gatherings on penalty of legal action.

A spokesman for Cambodia’s Prison Department denied reports that two environmental activists had been attacked and beaten by other inmates after refusing to end a hunger strike launched to commemorate Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.

So Metta and Chhoeun Daravy were assaulted on Dec. 6, four days into their eight-day strike, but resumed their protest immediately afterward, So Metta’s sister Eng Vanndy told RFA on Thursday after visiting her sister in jail.

“Prisoners convicted of murder and drug crimes assaulted them, and she was severely beaten, especially around her face,” Eng Vanndy said, referring to So Metta and adding that her sister and the other woman were separated during the attack.

“I worry for her life. Every time I visit, I never hear good news. I am very sad, and I want to see her released,” Eng Vanndy said.

Prison Department spokesman Nuth Savna denied the two activists had been attacked, saying that So Metta had refused to return to her cell after a break, and that guards had ordered other prisoners to “carry her there.”

“I investigated the incident, and was told that other inmates had carried So Metta back inside her cell because it was time for the cells to be closed,” he said, adding that So Metta had attacked other prisoners herself while they were taking her back to her cell.

Also on Friday, a Cambodian appeals court refused to grant bail to five activists arrested in September after criticizing the government’s handling of a border dispute with Vietnam.

Kean Sothea, the mother of activist Tha Lavy—a member of Khmer Tavarak, the Khmer Student Intelligent League, and arrested with So Metta—urged the government and the courts to free her son, now scheduled for trial on Dec. 30.

“I want the court to release him so he can return to school,” she said.

Freedom of expression

Ny Sokha of the Cambodian rights group Adhoc said he was disappointed by the court’s refusal to grant bail to the activists, saying they had only expressed their views according to the law and had not committed the crimes alleged by the court.

“All we can do is urge the government again and again to consider dropping all charges against these detainees, who are simply human rights and political activists,” he said.

“They were exercising their right to freedom of expression to help society and to criticize the government, based on democratic principles.”

Fifteen wives of jailed members of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) meanwhile resumed their weekly Friday protest outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, calling on the court to free their loved ones.

Police confiscated the protesters’ banners and photos of their husbands and blocked them after they tried to march together to the Embassy of the European Union, but members of the group then went separately to the embassy by taxi.

One woman, the wife of jailed CNRP activist Seng Chanthorn, told RFA that police had shoved and threatened her during their protest, adding that authorities should instead help to protect people who peacefully express their views.

The court should free her husband and all other prisoners detained only for criticizing government actions, she said.

“Even though we were harassed, we will continue to protest to demand they give our husbands back, because they are innocent,” she said.

'They still stand up'

Local rights group LICADHO in a report released this month said the arrest and imprisonment of more than a dozen human rights defenders in the second half of the year had “capped off three years of increasing repression by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of peaceful advocacy and activism.”

But Cambodians across all sectors of the country still stand up to demand their basic rights in the face of repressive laws enforced by government-controlled courts, LICADHO said.

“Many have lost years of their lives to Cambodia’s overcrowded prisons,” the rights group said. “Others have faced physical attacks and life-threatening injuries.”

Reached for comment, government spokesman Phay Siphan slammed LICADHO’s report, saying that Cambodian authorities base their actions in cases like these on the country’s laws, and that LICADHO was only trying to secure more funding from its donors by releasing its report.

“This is just a way for them to get money for staff salaries,” Phay Siphan said.

“These are only LICADHO’s thoughts and recommendations, and there is nothing here that we need to consider. The government enforces the laws, and the courts have the right to make their own decisions on whether to release suspects or not,” he said.

The latest wave of arrests comes three years after CNPR President Kem Sokha was arrested in September 2017 over an alleged plot to overthrow the government with the help of Washington. Cambodia’s Supreme Court banned his party in November that year for its supposed role in the scheme.

The move to dissolve the CNRP marked the beginning of a wider crackdown by Prime Minister Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs, and the independent media that paved the way for his ruling Cambodian People’s Party to win all 125 seats in the country’s July 2018 general election.

A Cambodian court convicted two rappers and sentenced them to up to a year and a half in prison on Tuesday on charges of incitement over their rhymes about social injustice and loss of sovereign territory.

Yin Srang, a spokesman for the Siem Reap provincial court, told Reuters that rapper Kea Sokun, 23, was found guilty of incitement to commit a felony and sentenced to a year and a half in prison, of which six months were suspended.

Another rapper, Long Putheara, who was 17 when arrested last year, received five months in jail, about six weeks of which was suspended, Yin Srang said.

Their convictions come during a wave of arrests of activists and opponents of the government, which started in July with the detention of a unionist who accused it of ceding land to neighboring Vietnam.

Others held include members of environmental groups, a politician and a Buddhist monk, according to human rights group Licadho, which tracks arrests of dissidents and activists.

Several Western nations have condemned that crackdown as well as treason charges against scores of opposition party supporters, warning that Cambodia's democracy is under threat.

Kea Sokun's father Kea Phal said the conviction of his son was an injustice and the two rap songs - "Khmer Land" and "Sad Race" - had positive meaning.

"The songs were educational and just remind youths to be loving of own nation," Kea Phal told Reuters.

Kea Phal said his son had made no apology during court proceedings because he did nothing wrong.

Lyrics in Khmer Land and Sad Race - which have over 2 million and 700,000 views respectively - say Cambodians are starving and the country is losing territory to its neighbors.

They urge people to stand up against oppression and unite to bring the country greatness.

Cambodia's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the convictions.

A Kampong Chhnang radio station owner was convicted for incitement on Tuesday and sentenced to 20 months in prison for reporting on an ongoing land dispute between villagers and the military in the province.

Kampong Chhnang Provincial Court presiding judge Y Thavrak found Sok Oudom, owner of Rithysen radio station, guilty of “incitement to commit a felony” and sentenced him to 20 months in prison and 20 million riels, around $5,000, in punitive damages, according to Un Chanthol, a lawyer for the journalist.

The complaint was filed by Nou Samrith, deputy commander of Kampong Chhnang military operation area, for allegedly inciting villagers against the military. The journalist had broadcast a Facebook Live report on a contentious land dispute in Kampong Chhnang province’s Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary, according to Sok Oudom’s wife, Nuth Sovanthou.

Un Chanthol, his lawyer, said the court should not have used the Criminal Code to jail his client, provisions in the Law on the Press could have been used to issue a correction if there was an error in the reportage.

“I think he is a journalist and his profession allows him to speak. But the court judged the opposite,” he said.

Long Sitha, Kampong Chhang court’s spokesperson, and Nou Samrith, the plaintiff, could not be reached for comment.

Oudom often posted stories on the Rithysen Radio News Station Facebook page about land disputes, clashes between people and police, and provincial court cases.

Nuth Sovanthou, 36, said her husband was among a group of journalists who were covering the land issues, but that Sok Oudom was the only one to face legal repercussions.

“It is very unfair and I don’t have any belief in the Cambodian court system,” said Nou Sovanthou, who is a mother of three.

She too questioned why the court did not use the Press Law to decide if her husband had committed a journalistic error.

“Why should we have the Law on the Press if we don’t use it to protect journalists?” she said. “He didn’t hide or incite anything.”

Article 10 of Press Law states that following a civil complaint if a court finds that the publication was false the court may order the press entity to publish a retraction, pay compensation, or publish a retraction.

Chab Sokhun, a villager from Kampong Chhnang’s Teuk Phos district, said Sok Oudom should not be accused or arrested because of his reporting since he didn’t incite people. He speculated that a mention of the provincial governor in the news report could have caused this entire episode.

“He said something affecting the provincial governor. That is why he was arrested,” said Chab Sokhun, who is involved in the land dispute.

Oudom is the third journalist in recent months to be convicted of incitement. The vaguely defined charge is often used to target detractors and critics of Hun Sen and the Cambodian government, rights groups say.

Last month, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced a Cambodian newspaper publisher who made critical comments about Prime Minister Hun Sen on Facebook to 18 months in prison. In October, Sovann Rithy, who founded social media news outlet TVFB, was convicted of incitement and given a suspended sentence.

Ith Sothoeuth, media director at the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said the authorities should not jump to file criminal charges and instead should try to use other ways to get corrective measures.

“The [authorities] should understand the role of journalists in doing their work rather than suing them in court,” she said. “It is another threat to journalists.”

Vann Vichar, 35, a freelance journalist, said the excessive use of incitement charges was a concern, because he was never sure which story would be considered incendiary, pointing out there was little chance of getting a fair verdict in these cases.

“[Incitement charges] are a concern for me because as a journalist I do not know which article can be assessed to be incitement,” said Vann Vichar, who has worked as a journalist for some 10 years.

Authorities in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh broke up yet another protest by more than a dozen wives and relatives of jailed opposition activists Friday, less than a week ahead of a scheduled court hearing for more than 100 of the party’s members and representatives of nongovernmental organizations.

Friday’s protest marked the third time family members of detained activists with the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) gathered in front of the Royal Palace, calling on King Norodom Sihamoni to grant clemency to their loved ones—most of whom have been jailed on “incitement” charges after expressing views critical of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s leadership.

The “Friday Wives,” as they are increasingly referred to, have held weekly demonstrations in the capital demanding that they be freed.

However, before the protesters could deliver a petition to representatives of the king, around 50 security personnel from Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district violently dispersed them, pushing them and threatening them with arrest. The authorities also used loudspeakers to denounce local rights groups and the United Nations Human Rights Organization (UNHCR), who they accused—without presenting evidence—of facilitating the protest.

Ouk Chanthy, the wife of CNRP member Yim Sareth, told RFA’s Khmer Service that authorities kicked her in the leg during the confrontation, leaving her unable to walk.

She said it had been eight months since her husband lost his freedom and that she has been protesting in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for his release, insisting that he committed no crime. She added that she has suffered both mentally and physically after being violently dispersed by the authorities during several protests.

Ouk Chanthy said she is very worried about the health of her husband, who suffers from high blood pressure and other ailments.

“I would like to call on national and international organizations, as well as the king, to please help us—we are women!” she said.

“All of us have suffered grave injustice. Since our husbands were incarcerated, the life of each family has deteriorated. Coming out to protest, we never know what we will face. But for the sake of our husbands, for the sake of our families, we must speak out to demand their release.”

Prim Chantha, the wife of CNRP member Kak Komphear, said authorities prohibited her group from shouting on the pretext that it “disturbed the king,” all while the authorities used loudspeakers to disperse people.

“The Phnom Penh Municipality should not have sent district security guards to disperse us violently like this,” she said. “We are women and every day we are like the living dead because they arrested our husbands.”

After being dispersed from the Royal Palace to a stupa in nearby Wat Botum pagoda, the women decided to proceed to the British Embassy to inquire about a past petition calling for London’s intervention. However, the authorities used vehicles and motorbikes to chase them as they walked to the site.

A representative of the embassy told the women that British Ambassador to Cambodia Tina Redshaw was not in her office.

Speaking to RFA, Ny Sokha—a worker with the Cambodian rights group ADHOC—slammed the authorities for their actions on Friday.

“The government, especially state authorities, has failed to guarantee that people enjoy their rights to non-violent protest, in accordance with the principles of human rights,” he said. “We have seen some liberal countries condemn these acts.” Nov. 26 hearing

Friday’s protest comes as the Phnom Penh Municipal Court announced plans to hear cases en masse against more than 100 CNRP members and NGO representatives on Nov. 26.

Political Commentator Meas Nee said the move could indicate that Hun Sen’s government hopes to conclude cases with the opposition and move towards political reconciliation.

Kem Sokha, president of the CNRP, was arrested in September 2017 over an alleged plot to overthrow the government with U.S. help. Cambodia’s Supreme Court banned his party in November that year for its supposed role in the scheme.

The move to dissolve the CNRP marked the beginning of a wider crackdown by Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs, and the independent media that paved the way for his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in the country’s July 2018 general election.

“The move by the court occurs at the same time when there are rumors saying that some CNRP officials who don’t apply for political rehabilitation could be automatically granted such political rights by the government so that they could form a new party,” Meas Nee said.

“But we are still waiting to see whether only subordinate-level CNRP officials could be granted such political rehabilitation, leaving the top leaders of the CNRP to be charged so that the two leaders [Kem Sokha and Acting President Sam Rainsy] are divided.”

Another political commentator, Ly Srey Sros, disagreed, however.

“I see it differently—it may be adding further burdens against CNRP supporters,” she said.

“I don’t see that there will any political reconciliation. I don’t believe that there will be many CNRP members able to attend the hearing on Nov. 26. The court may prolong the cases and move to ruling by convicting all these CNRP members.”

Two community representatives from Koh Kong province have been placed under judicial supervision as hundreds of community members from Sre Ambel district gathered outside the Koh Kong Court of First Instance to call for the charges against their representatives to be dropped. Both women face up to two years in prison if found guilty.

Phav Nherng and Seng Lin had appeared before an investigating judge on charges of defamation and incitement to disturb social security. The women, who will now have to report monthly to district police, appear when summoned by court authorities and will not be able to move house without the court’s permission, represent almost two hundred families who have had hundreds of hectares of vital farmland seized by the Heng Huy Agriculture Group since 2008 to make way for a sugar plantation.

Both representatives were the target of a complaint launched by former community representative Chhay Vy. Vy’s brother, the late commune chief, was accused by the three women in 2019 of having seized land for himself during the unresolved land dispute. Another woman, Khorn Phun, had also been summoned for questioning over defamation charges. However, judicial supervision is not applicable for this charge.

Ten more community representatives have been put under judicial supervision in connection with the Heng Huy land dispute in the past two weeks alone.

Chhay Vy, a former representative of “Community 175,” a group of villagers in a land dispute with the Heng Huy sugar plantation, accused three residents of incitement and defamation over claims that she was working to sell the community’s land.

After a hearing on Wednesday morning, the Koh Kong Provincial Court placed two of the defendants under court supervision, prohibiting them from changing residences and requiring them to check in with district authorities once a month, according to a monitor at rights group Licadho.

About 200 protesters from six communities gathered outside the court for the hearing.

“She stole the land — I have both witnesses and evidence,” said Pao Nherng, from Sre Ambel district’s Chi Khor Krom commune.

A group of villagers filed a complaint about Vy to Interior Minister Sar Kheng last year.

Vy responded on Wednesday that she had not sold any community land, and demanded that her accusers present concrete evidence.

“If I do not see the evidence of what they have accused me of, I want them to pay me $20,000 and go to jail for five years,” Vy told VOD.

The three defendants in the case are Nherng, Sen Lin and Khon Phon. Nherng and Lin were placed under court supervision.

Licadho’s Koh Kong provincial coordinator, Hour In, said all three were questioned by judges on Wednesday.

“It is a threat to break the spirit of the people from protesting,” In said.

The court issued a statement saying that Wednesday’s case was unrelated to land disputes.

However, a separate case involving the same sugar plantation was heard at the court the previous day on Tuesday.

The case was brought by Heng Huy against 10 land disputants, five of whom were placed under court supervision on Tuesday. The five others were put under court supervision last week.

Dek Hour, one of the defendants, said the 10 were also accused of incitement and defamation.

The dispute between villagers and Heng Huy is long-standing, with villagers saying land encroachment started in 2007. Villagers were also summoned to court last year for incitement and defamation.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted newspaper publisher Ros Sokhet and handed him an 18-month prison sentence on Wednesday, five months after he was arrested for Facebook posts criticizing Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Ros Sokhet, the publisher of the “Cheat Khmer” newspaper, was arrested on June 25 for critical Facebook posts about Prime Minister Hun Sen, accusing him of not helping people affected by indebtedness.

Sam Sokong, Ros Sokhet’s lawyer, said the newspaper publisher had been convicted for incitement and sentenced under Article 494 and 495 of the Cambodian Criminal Code. He was also asked to pay a $500 fine.

“He was sentenced for 18 months in prison and a fine of two million Riel,” Sam Sokong said.

Sam Sokong said Ros Sokhet had asked him to appeal the decision on the grounds that the Facebook posts were his personal opinions and that the conviction affected his freedom of expression.

According to rights groups, Ros Sokhet was arrested for two posts addressing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s succession plans and rising indebtedness among Cambodian households.

Ros Sokhet is the second journalist in the last month to be convicted for incitement, a vaguely-defined charge often used to target detractors and critics of Hun Sen and the Cambodian government. In October, Sovann Rithy, who founded social media news outlet TVFB, was convicted for incitement and given a suspended sentence under Article 494 and 495 of the Cambodian Criminal Code.

Sovann Rithy was arrested in early April and charged with incitement after he reported comments made by Hun Sen at a National Assembly press conference. The prime minister had said that informal workers, including motorcycle taxi drivers, should sell their vehicles to buy rice because the government could not help them during the COVID-19 economic downturn.

Shortly after, Sovann Rithy posted a photo of a motorcycle driver on Facebook, with the accompanying text: “If the moto-taxi driver is bankrupt, they can sell their moto because the government is unable to help.”

Radio station owner Sok Oudom, who runs Rithysen Radio News Station, was also tried last week for allegedly inciting villagers against the military, in a long-standing dispute in Kampong Chhnang province. Sok Oudom faces similar charges to Sovann Rithy and Ros Sokhet and his verdict is due on November 17.

Rights groups have criticized the Cambodian government for its frequent use of the incitement legal provision to curtail press freedom. Activists say these arrests and convictions send an ominous message to independent news outlets and reporters.

Ith Sothoeuth, media director at the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said the recent conviction of two journalists sends a threatening message to journalists working on controversial stories.

“I think the sustained conviction of journalists can be a threatening signal to other journalists who are doing their work,” he said.

A statement released on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists earlier this month called for an end to attacks on free expression and protection of journalists critical of the Cambodian government.

The statement, released by more than 50 local and international groups, listed at least 13 journalists who have faced court complaints for their news coverage and the revocation of four media licenses during the coronavirus pandemic for the alleged sharing of fake news.

“In the past years, the Cambodian government adopted a series of repressive laws that have enabled a crackdown on independent media and social media and resorted to provisions in the penal code – in particular articles 494 and 495 – to silence critical reporting and its reporters,” read the statement, referring to the criminal code provisions on incitement.

In an ongoing media crackdown that started after the 2017 commune election, independent newspaper The Cambodia Daily was closed for alleged tax violations and The Phnom Penh Post was sold to a Malaysian investor with links to Prime Minister Hun Sen. Also, two former Radio Free Asia reporters were charged with espionage and two former Cambodia Daily reporters are awaiting trial for alleged incitement over a 2017 election story.

Mixed security forces violently broke up a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh to mark the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement, with two former Cambodia National Rescue Party officials being detained on Thursday to prevent their attendance.

The protest was called by senior leadership of the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party to mark the 29th anniversary of the Peace Paris Agreement and to protest against China’s potential military presence in Cambodia.

About 30 protestors gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in the capital’s Chamkarmon district, where they were met by dozens of district security guards, uniformed police, and plainclothes security personnel.

“People who protest here with the banners, please leave this area in five minutes,” said an official on a loudspeaker. “If you don’t, we will use administrative measures.”

Protestors continued their protest and called for China to respect the peace agreement and refrain from having a military presence on Cambodian soil. Security personnel then started to drag and carry protestors away from outside the embassy, with these images and videos broadcast on social media platforms.

Three women were dragged onto the back of a flatbed truck used by district guards and another woman was carried away.

The Chinese Embassy did not respond to requests for comment.

Former CNRP members were also marking the peace agreement anniversary in different cities across the world, with Prime Minister Hun Sen warning Cambodians not to protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh.

The protestors were reacting to an increasing number of reports suggesting that Cambodia had allegedly signed a secret deal with China to allow a military presence at two likely locations: Ream Naval Base in Preah Sihanouk province and the Dara Sakor Resort in Koh Kong province.

Am Sam Ath, deputy director at rights group Licadho, said the government’s actions had effectively forbidden people from assembling and expressing their views.

“It has become involved with politics now. It affects the freedom of assembly and peaceful protests,” he said.

On Thursday, two former CNRP members were detained and prevented from participating in the protest outside the Chinese Embassy. Vann Sophat was detained by Tbong Khmum police officials at noon, without a warrant, and questioned till 5 p.m., he said. He was released only after signing an agreement promising to not partake in the protest.

“I just wanted to protest, and not start a coup to topple anyone,” he said. “We want people to understand about the Paris Peace Agreement on October 23.”

Vann Sophat was one of seven former opposition officials who was convicted by Tbong Khmum court last month and given a five-year suspended sentence. They were charged with “plotting” to overthrow the government and the case was linked to Sam Rainsy’s unsuccessful return to Cambodia in November 2019.

His former CNRP colleague, Sou Yean, was also detained by Tbong Khmum police on Thursday and remains in detention, according to his family.

Hong Kim Hoeun, Memot district police chief, said he was on a two-day mission to Preah Sihanouk province and refused to comment on the detention.

Pen Rath, Tbong Khmum provincial police head, and court spokespersons could not be reached for comment on Friday.

In a joint statement, journalists’ association CamboJA and the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, VOD’s parent organization, said at least six journalists had been “intimidated and threatened” at the rally.

They were told to give up their phones, stop shooting live video or had their camera taken away, the statement said.

Journalist Gerry Flynn said he was covering the protest for Thmey Thmey on Friday, and was being pushed back from observing the protesters when a walkie-talkie hit him in the face.

He turned around and an officer yelled at him, he said. A U.N. observer at the scene intervened, and told him that the guard had shouted, “Better watch out because you’re in the land of Cambodians,” Flynn said.

A freelance cameraman he was with also had his lens grabbed, and authorities tried to get into the cameraman’s bag, Flynn added.

Khan Leakhena, a VOD reporter, said she saw a protester fall on the sidewalk, and pulled out her phone to take pictures. A man in civilian clothes approached her, shouting and ordering her to stop shooting, and tried to grab the phone from her, Leakhena said.

Mech Dara, another VOD reporter, said he and several other reporters were repeatedly ordered to stop filming, including a journalist working for Reuters.

An Asia spokesperson for Reuters declined to comment. The Khmer Times has not responded to emailed questions. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also did not respond to questions.

Chanyada, the deputy governor, on Saturday denied knowledge of the incidents and referred questions to the City Hall spokesperson.

City Hall spokesperson Met Measpheakdey said he did not know the details of what happened on Friday and did not answer questions about the deputy governor being personally involved in the harassment.

“Generally, I can say that journalists have the right and ability to take pictures if it doesn’t affect or block authorities from implementing their duties,” Measpheakdey said.

CCIM’s media director, Ith Sothoeuth, said the work of journalists was supposed to be guaranteed under law. “These threats will further pressure and restrict the freedom of journalists in Cambodia.”

Nop Vy, CamboJA’s executive director, said the authorities’ actions were “unacceptable.”

“This is a sign of unacceptable intimidation as journalists were fulfilling their professional work,” said Vy, who was CCIM’s previous media director. “Authorities likely consider journalists to be an important observer who make it difficult for them to crack down on protesters.”

According to the Criminal Code, extortion — the act or attempt to obtain any asset by violence, threat of violence or coercion — is punishable by two to five years in jail.

On 20 October 2020, the Court of Appeal in Phnom Penh denied the bail motion against the detention of three human rights defenders from Mother Nature Cambodia; Thun Ratha, Long Kunthea and Phoung Keorasmey. They were charged with “incitement to commit a felony or social unrest” on 6 September 2020. The charge is based on information they shared on social media about their plans to organise a one-woman march to the Prime Minister’s house to raise environmental concerns over the filling in of the Boeung Tamoke lake in Phnom Penh. The defenders are currently under pre-trial detention at Phnom Penh's Correctional Centres 1 and 2.

Four local online news journalists were attacked on September 28 by a group of men who they say were timber traders seeking revenge after the reporters had singled them out to police for committing forestry crimes.

The group of reporters from PMN news, Chakrapop news and Eysan Post filed a complaint at the Memot district police station in Tbong Khmum province against several suspects who they say threw a log through the window of their car and beat them with sticks and axes, injuring two.

Memot District Police Chief Hong Kim Hoeun confirmed receipt of the journalists’ complaint.

“Yes, we have received it and [we] are working on that case,” he said before declining to comment further.

One victim, Ren Samnang, a reporter at PMN news, said he was asleep in his car along with Muok Saren from Chakrapop news, and Ran Khorn and Teng Norin from Eysan Post news, when the attack occurred.

“I was traveling from Snoul district to Phnom Penh and upon arriving in Memot district, we pulled over to take some rest and fell asleep,” said Samnang, 29.

“We were sleeping [in the car] for about an hour when at about 12:30am, we heard a sound hitting the car,” Samnang said.

Upon realizing that someone had hurled a log through the front driver’s side window, he started the engine and began to drive away.

The group of about five suspects then returned to their truck to chase after the journalists, eventually crashing into their car and running it off the side of the road.

“I jumped out of the car and started to run away,” he said, adding that the log thrown through the window had injured his left rib, and that the timber traders had also smashed off one of the vehicle’s mirrors and dented the exterior.

Samang said he had recognized the attackers and realized the assault was in retaliation to the journalists’ investigation of forest crimes in the area. On September 26, the group had reported an incident of illegal logging to military police in Memot district, which resulted in the officials stopping a truck transporting timber through the area.

He said the journalists were present to report on the case when military police stopped the vehicle, but that the four or five men on board had gotten away.

“[Before running], the driver took a picture and said ‘Either your car will be damaged or we will cause you harm,’” Samnang recalled.

“I think that they wanted to kill us,” he added.

He called on police to take legal action and arrest the suspects so that they would not repeat their crime in the future.

Saren said his leg was slightly injured in the attack, and echoed Samnang’s assertion that the attackers were part of the group of timber traders that they had encountered two days prior.

“They [suspects] came to beat us up without even asking us anything and damaged our car,” he said.

“I think that it is a threat to all journalists not to report [forestry] crimes in the future,” Saren said, emphasizing that the attack would not deter his future work.

Sar Sina, director of the provincial information department said September 29 that his department has already forwarded the case to the Information Ministry.

“Police are working on that case, we have not yet investigated it,” he said, adding that those journalists had filed a complaint with the district police.

“It is a violent act that should not happen to journalists,” Sina said.

Nop Vy, executive director at Cambodian Journalists Alliance (CamboJA), said he was disappointed in the use of violence against the journalists, noting that reporters play an important role in monitoring and preventing illegal acts, including forestry crimes.

“We know that forestry crimes are continuing to happen, and some cases involve local authorities and people who are powerful and rich,” he said.

“It is dangerous and risky for journalists, so I think that local authorities have to take effective legal measures to arrest the culprits,” Vy said, adding that if authorities decline to take legal action, it will encourage the suspects and they may even attack other journalists in the future.

Vy said that the persecution of journalists “is a serious threat to their life and personal safety.”

In a separate case in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district, Kouy Piseth, 24, a reporter for CBN TV Online, died in a traffic accident in the early hour of September 29.

Theng Kosal, Choamchao III commune chief, clarified that the death was caused by a road collision, and was not a murder, as public people had originally suspected.

The victim had driven his motorbike very fast up a hill and had been thrown off, hitting his head on a rock on the ground, Kosal said.

“It is not a murder case, but it was a traffic accident he caused himself,” the commune chief said, explaining that police were initially unsure because the body was found 40 meters away from the victim’s motorbike.

CBN TV Online General Director Chhai Sochet said he had not seen Piseth since the reporter had left the office at about 11:30pm, and that he was saddened to hear of his death.

Four Koh Kong villagers were detained for about 12 hours after camping outside the provincial hall in a group of about 60 land protesters since Monday, they said.

The group say they are in a 12-year-long dispute with the Union Development Group, or UDG, which has been developing the $3.8-billion Dara Sakor tourism resort in the province. The villagers said they were calling on the provincial administration to act on the case.

Chhay Kimthuch, one of the protesters camping outside the hall, said four villagers had been detained in the dark at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday after dozens of officers arrived to disperse the encampment.

“The authorities arrived quietly and grabbed [people] in the tents,” she said.

The four villagers, including a village representative, Preab Roatha, were held at Khemara Phoumin city police headquarters until their release around 3 p.m., Kimthuch said.

Saing Puy, from Koh Sdach commune, added that the tents outside the provincial hall were removed and authorities said they would not be allowed to stay there.

“The Koh Kong provincial authority should not have done this to the people,” she said.

Deputy provincial governor Sok Sothy told VOD that there were no arrests; authorities simply took an administrative measure to maintain public order.

The four villagers were “questioned to note down what their real intentions were in coming,” Sothy said.

UDG’s 45,000-hectare overall economic land concession, granted in 2008 and 2011, pushed families to abandon and dismantle more than 1,500 homes on 10,000 hectares of land, according to a 2012 report from the Community Legal Education Center.

Last month, the U.S. sanctioned the Chinese-owned company, alleging it “used Cambodian military forces to intimidate local villagers and to clear out land necessary for UDG to build the Dara Sakor project.” It also suggested that the resort could be converted to host military assets.

Cambodian officials and UDG have denied the claims.

Hour In, provincial coordinator for rights group Licadho, said people who had lost land were being further victimized by the suppression of protests.

“People became victims of losing land, and when they protested, they became victims even more because of the authorities’ actions,” In said.

Provincial governor Mithona Phouthorng said provincial officials and the Land Management Ministry were studying the dispute to clearly identify the people involved and make other clarifications in order to move toward a solution.

Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the country to commit to protecting peace as hundreds of land disputants protested in Phnom Penh on Monday, saying that while they remain marginalized, threatened and “in tears,” the people don’t have peace.

Land protesters from the provinces of Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Svay Rieng and Tbong Khmum blocked traffic in front of the Land Management Ministry for at least 20 minutes, with reporters estimating that as many as 1,100 people participated in the demonstration.

About 50 police officers and district security guards prevented the protesters from entering the ministry’s compound, and pushed them to the opposite side of the road. The protesters were later blocked from marching to Hun Sen’s house.

Sam Chamnan, from Tbong Khmum, said people in his village had lost community land to Harmony Win Investment over the past decade. Men Davy, from Svay Rieng, said she represented 152 families locked in a dispute with a Chinese company since 2014. Kan Chhorn, from Koh Kong, said his Sre Ambel district villagers had no land left to farm after 10 years fighting with a sugar plantation.

The villagers chose the International Day of Peace to protest so the government could finally fulfill its promise to bring peace to the country by resolving their disputes, Chamnan said.

But rather than peace, land protesters had been experiencing only arrests and threats, he said. “We have no rights,” Chamnan added.

Davy said it was time for the government to act rather than simply repeat the word “peace.”

“Today, I think Samdech will find a solution for people, in order to make our country have peace as it was promised,” she said, using an honorific for Hun Sen. “We think there’s no peace. There is only peace in their mouths because people are still in tears in all the provinces.” ​

Chhorn said he didn’t want to have to protest. “I am poor. … If I were rich, I wouldn’t come,” he said. “I’m a farmer but I don’t have the land to grow crops.”

City Hall spokesperson Met Measpheakdey said authorities had prevented people from marching to maintain public order and avoid traffic jams.

“They shouldn’t need to gather and disrupt public order” if the aim was simply to submit petitions, he said.

Meanwhile, to mark the International Day of Peace, Hun Sen recalled the country’s past struggles and said only peace could be the foundation for development.

“If we lose peace, we will lose everything. … Commit strongly to protecting the peace that we’ve just achieved,” he said in a letter issued on Saturday. “Endure, be strong and remain intact forever. Do not allow any reactionary force to destroy it at any cost.”

Acknowledging the economic challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hun Sen said his two priorities were maintaining stability in politics and the microfinance sector.

The country’s microfinance debt hit $7.3 billion in June to more than 2 million borrowers, according to the Cambodia Microfinance Association, with an average microloan size of $3,804 that researchers have said is the highest in the world.

“The great achievements that Cambodia has achieved have never been applauded or praised by some superpowers and Western countries, which have a specific agenda to use Cambodia as a stepping stone to serve their political ambitions,” Hun Sen continued in his letter.

In a statement issued on Monday while protests were ongoing, the Land Management Ministry said about 800 disputants from Koh Kong had no legal basis for their complaints, rejecting their petition for intervention in disputes with sugar plantations Heng Huy, Koh Kong Plantation and Koh Kong Sugar Industry as well as Chinese-owned tourism resort Union Development Group.

UDG — a massive, $3.8-billion development that spans 45,000 hectares and 20 percent of Cambodia’s coastline — was sanctioned by the U.S. last week over alleged human rights abuses and forced evictions, following accusations that it could be turned into a Chinese military base.

Environmental group Mother Nature’s founder alleges that the advocacy group’s Facebook page was hijacked after authorities arrested three activists earlier this month, one of whom was a page administrator.

Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, who was deported in 2015 and blocked from reentering the country, said he realized the group’s Facebook page was compromised on September 4, when he found an email saying he had been removed as a page administrator.

The Spain-based activist said he received the email at 1:20 a.m. in his local time, one day after three Mother Nature activists were arrested while producing a campaign video to call for lake Boeng Tamok’s conservation. Gonzalez-Davidson said he suspected that the activists were threatened or coerced to give authorities the password to the group’s Facebook page.

He sent a request to Facebook to suspend the page temporarily, as well as the personal pages of the three detained activists, Thun Ratha, Long Kunthea and Phuong Keorasmey, he said.

“I hope that in two or three weeks, I can manage the Mother Nature pages again,” Gonzalez-Davidson said.

Via a public relations representative in Cambodia, Facebook said it had received a request from a human rights actor to suspend the Mother Nature Cambodia page after some members, including a page administrator, were detained by government security officials. The company said it had secured the page under the same procedures it follows when a page is hacked.

Phnom Penh municipal police spokesperson San Sokseyha said he was not familiar with the specifics of the Mother Nature case, but in general the police would confiscate all evidence related to a case, including technology, and then the court has the “right to investigate” the accused persons’ devices.

Chea Pov, the head of the Interior Ministry’s technology crimes department, did not respond to questions.

Gonzalez-Davidson activist also said he had noticed two pages trying to impersonate Mother Nature Cambodia: a page called Father of Nature Cambodia with 1,447 followers, and another called Mother of Nature Cambodia with 708 followers. Both pages, which were started on June 17 and 18, respectively, have profile pictures stylized like Mother Nature’s logo.

Gonzalez-Davidson called the impersonating accounts “crude,” but he said he is hoping the social media company will remove the accounts. The accounts remained active as of Monday morning, but neither had posted since September 1, when both accounts posted the same four nature photos.

Based on archived links in Google searches, the real advocacy group page had more than 353,000 followers, and Gonzalez-Davidson said in a Facebook post that the group’s videos had been seen more than 20 million times over the past four years.

Among its campaigns, the groups’ sustained criticism of sand mining in Koh Kong province for export preceded Cambodia’s decision to ban sand exports for environmental reasons.

Another activist was arrested in Phnom Penh on Thursday as the U.N., international rights groups and dozens of local civil society organizations condemned the government�s �campaign of fear and repression� against human rights defenders.

Police arrested Muong Sopheak on Sothearos Blvd. in Chamkarmorn district�s Tonle Bassac commune around 3 p.m. by court order for incitement to disturb social security, municipal police spokesperson San Sokseyha said on Friday.

His brother, Muong Sony, said Sopheak had been taken by authorities from outside the minor Khmer Will Party�s headquarters. Sopheak and Sony both belong to the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association, two other members of which were arrested last weekend in relation to protests in support of jailed unionist Rong Chhun.

Sopheak�s arrest marks at least 10 activists arrested over the past month amid a series of small street protests, most in support of Chhun. At least four of those detained were members of youth activist group Khmer Thavrak.

Chhun was arrested in late July after alleging that Cambodia was losing territory to Vietnam along their shared border, a controversial and ethnically charged issue.

In a statement on Friday, the U.N.�s human rights office said it had documented the arrests of 24 human rights defenders since Chhun�s arrest, 12 of whom remained in detention.

Several activists also reported being followed and receiving threatening phone calls, including death threats, it said. �Numerous human rights defenders are currently in hiding for fear of being arrested.�

�The current situation marks a deepening of the Government�s intolerance to dissent and repression of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association,� it said, calling on the government to release the arrested activists and end the intimidation against civil society actors.

Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson also called for the activists� release in a statement on Friday, and urged Prime Minister Hun Sen to �end the de facto ban on critical protests in Phnom Penh.� On Thursday, Amnesty International condemned the arrests as �a shocking, all-out assault on Cambodia�s youth.�

Thirty-nine civil society groups signed a similar statement earlier this week. �We urge the government to end its campaign of fear and repression against peaceful youth and environmental human rights defenders,� they said on Wednesday.

The government�s permanent mission in Geneva this week responded to related criticism from U.N. envoy Rhona Smith.

�Cambodia cherishes freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in line with the law, and is deeply conscious that plurality of voices, including the critical one, matters in the development of the country,� it said in a statement, according to state media outlet Agence Kampuchea Presse. �However, article 31 of the Constitution of Cambodia underscores that exercise of personal rights and freedom by any individual shall not adversely affect rights and freedom of others. The exercise of such rights and freedom shall be in accordance with the law.�