Cambodian PM to request bail for jailed rights activists Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 17-Jan-2006 14:49 hrs Mam Sonando's wife (R), Kem Sokha's wife (C), and Pa Nguon Teang's wife (L) pray for the release of their husbands in front of Prey Sar Prison in Phnom Penh. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will ask for the release on bail of four civic leaders jailed for defamation, after meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, a senior advisor said
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will ask for the release on bail of four civic leaders jailed for defamation, after meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, a senior advisor said.
The premier is expected to send a letter later in the day to the courts requesting that rights leaders Kem Sokha and Pa Nguon Teang be freed pending their defamation trials, said advisor Om Yentieng, who heads the government's human rights committee.
Journalist Mam Sonando and union boss Rong Chhun, who were jailed for their criticism of a border pact with Vietnam, should also be released, he said following the meeting between Hun Sen and Hill.
"(Hun Sen) will try to write a letter today to ask the court for those who have been temporarily detained to be released on bail, but they must appear at the court on the upcoming hearing date," Om Yentieng said.
"This is a present for Mr Christopher Hill on the day of the inauguration of the new US Embassy."
Hill is in Cambodia on a swing through Southeast Asia this week as Washington ratchets up pressure for global action on military-ruled Myanmar.
The United States has been one of the most vocal critics of the recent defamation arrests in Cambodia, calling them an "erosion of freedom and democracy".
The apparent rights crackdown, which has seen nearly a dozen people arrested or facing punishment, mostly for defamation, a criminal offense in Cambodia, has drawn international condemnation.
Rights groups say the Cambodian government is using the courts to attack its opponents and threatens to go the way of Myanmar if it continues to crush dissent.
One Cambodian rights activist questioned Tuesday whether this latest move was simply a token gesture made towards Washington during Hill's visit.
The Cambodian government has routinely said it has not pressured the courts to arrest it critics, with Om Yentieng denying again Tuesday that the detentions were an assault on free expression.
"We have never arrested and sued, nor have the courts ever detained any government critics ... there is nothing in Cambodian law to punish government critics," he said.
A fifth activist caught up in the sweep, rights leader Yeng Virak, was released on bail last week after being arrested on December 31 with Kem Sokha, who is director of the Cambodian Human Rights Center.
Om Yentieng said the government was surprised by the court's decision to free Yeng Virak pending trial. But he said Yeng Virak was granted bail because he was not at risk of fleeing the country.
He said the other four men might try to leave Cambodia, and "that is why it is difficult to grant them bail".
The crackdown has already driven several government critics from Cambodia, including opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who fled to France last year after being stripped of his parliamentary immunity.
He was sentenced in December to 18 months in prison for defaming Hun Sen and National Assembly president Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
A second opposition lawmaker, Cheam Channy, was sentenced last August to seven years in prison for allegedly plotting to topple the government. Om Yentieng did not say if his case was discussed by Hun Sen and Hill. — AFP
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