CAMBODIA: A journalist and son shot dead in Phnom Penh

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a journalist named Khim Sambor who worked for a local newspaper, Moneaksekar Khmer, and his son were shot dead on 11 July in Phnom Penh.  Both father and son were travelling on a motorcycle after finishing their exercise at the city’s Olympic stadium when a gunman, also on a motorcycle, opened fire at them.

CASE DETAILS: (Source: Pech Norak, Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper, Phnom Penh)

In the early evening of 11 July 2008, Khim Sambor, 47, and his son, Khat Sarin Theada, 21, finished their exercise at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. They then rode their motorcycle, the father on the back seat, out of the place through the main entrance. Just after entering a busy adjacent boulevard, at around 6:40pm, a gunman, also travelling on a motorcycle, sprayed bullets from a Heckler and Koch machine pistol hitting Khim with three bullets in the stomach and his son with two bullets in the chest. Both later died in hospital.

Khim had been working for Moneaksekar Khmer since 1997. The newspaper is widely known to be affiliated to the Sam Rainsy Party, which is the opposition party in the Parliament. Using his pen names Den Sorin and Sereyka, Khim was responsible for most of the stories critical of senior government officials including Prime Minister Hun Sen. These stories covered, for instance corruption, illegal logging and deforestation, overfishing and depletion of the country’s fish stock, and land grabbing.

Khim’s murder has been widely believed to be politically motivated. It is yet another attack on press and political freedom, and it has now created more fear, not only among journalists and human activists, but also opposition parties and voters as it has taken place in the middle of an intense election campaign and just two weeks ahead of the general election to be held on 27 July.

Khat Sarin Theada was a second-year student at the National University of Management, Phnom Penh.

ADDITONAL INFORMATION:

Cambodia is holding a general election on 27 July 2008. Over many months leading to this election there has already been violence against non ruling parties and also lawsuits against opposition candidates. Now the election campaign is very intense.

The editor of Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper and an opposition candidate, Dam Sith, was arrested on 8 July 2008 following a criminal lawsuit for defamation, insult and disinformation by Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong for reporting a remark by a Member of Parliament and leader of the opposition party, Sam Raisy, saying that Hor had been chief of a Khmer Rouge prison in the past (For further details, please see AHRC-UAC-134-2008). Dam was released on bail and Hor later dropped the suit after Prime Minister Hun Sen’s direct intervention with the court. Since then Dam has not dared venture out as much as he had done before for fear of being attacked.

There have been continuous attacks on journalists since 1992, when Cambodia was temporarily placed under the UN administration. Over ten journalists have been killed and many have received threats and intimidation. Some have been sued for stories critical of government officials. Publication of newspapers has been suspended or newspapers confiscated for the same reasons. In recent months a radio reporter, Lem Piseth, had to flee the country and seek asylum after receiving continuous threats and intimidation (For further details, please see AHRC-UAU-022-2008).

However, thus far, no perpetrator of those murders or the author of those threats and intimidation has been apprehended and brought to justice.

In Cambodia, press and political freedom, and the right to security are constitutional rights.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write your letters to the authorities listed below to request them to bring the murderers of Khim Sambor and his son to justice without any delay.

The AHRC has written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial and Summery Execution regarding this incident.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER