Cambodian Authorities Arrest Prominent Journalist Mech Dara for “Inciting Unrest”
Award-winning freelance journalist Mech Dara previously reported for the now defunct newspaper The Cambodia Daily before exorbitant government taxes forced its closure in 2017.
Published October 13, 2024
Cambodian authorities arrested journalist Mech Dara, who gained notoriety for his exposés of human trafficking and political corruption, on September 30 on charges of inciting social unrest. Dara faces up to two years in prison if convicted, a prospect that has renewed fears about the Cambodian government’s long-standing pattern of censorship.
The impetus behind Dara’s arrest was a pair of recent social media posts concerning a sacred mountain in the southeastern Prey Veng province. Dara shared photographs allegedly implying that a nearby rock quarry endangered the Ba Phnom mountain’s famed Buddhist pagoda. The intimation invited the ire of provincial officials, who published a statement demanding that Cambodia’s Information Ministry––a governmental department effectively tasked with media oversight––take legal action against Dara for attempting to “cause social disorder or confusion.”
Dara faced arrest hours later under circumstances human rights organizations have deemed fairly murky. The journalist’s detainment occurred during a routine traffic stop at a highway toll booth as he and family members returned from vacation. While Dara’s car stopped, police officers arrived in a military vehicle and five other cars, removed the journalist from his car, and took him away. Dara’s location remained a mystery for nearly 24 hours post-arrest before he appeared in a Phnom Penh court. The court claimed that Dara had admitted to all criminal charges against him and ordered him into pre-trial detention.
While authorities cite Dara’s social media posts as the cause of his arrest, government critics and rights observers fear that the charges are retaliation for Dara’s recent journalistic output. Dara ranks among Cambodia’s most prolific independent journalists, and he has received international recognition for his work uncovering widespread criminal syndicates over the past three-and-a-half years. Dara’s investigative reports have shed light on a multi-billion-dollar system of online scam centers in Cambodia, which lure in and subsequently torture, traffick, and enslave unsuspecting workers under the guise of legitimate work.
In particular, Dara has exposed collusion between illegal cybercrime compounds and several high-ranking Cambodian government officials, including senator and tycoon Ly Yong Phat, who maintains close ties with Prime Minister Hun Manet. Dara’s work likely correlates with recent U.S. sanctions on Ly, which the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets announced on September 12. This point of connection, along with the timing of Dara’s arrest less than one month later, has reinforced suspicions of trumped up charges in Dara’s detention.
Dara’s case is not an anomaly, as it comes amid a pattern of increased media suppression in Cambodia. Since 2017, three of Cambodia’s leading independent news outlets, The Cambodia Daily, the Phnom Penh Post, and the Voice of Democracy, have ceased to operate as usual due to government interference. While a pro-government PR agency took ownership of the Post, the Daily and the Voice of Democracy, have shut down entirely in the face of exorbitant taxes and license revocation. Dara’s arrest thus represents a particularly severe blow to press freedom in Cambodia, presaging the continued repression of independent journalists in the country.