The Land Management Ministry has announced it will aim to distribute 30,000 hectares to the country’s poor in the third phase of a World Bank-funded project, which previously came amid controversy over the bank suspending loans to Cambodia over forced evictions.
Camera traps have captured images of the giant muntjac, a critically endangered deer, for the first time in Cambodia, an Environment Ministry spokesperson said.
Several Phnom Penh residents spoke in support of the arrested Mother Nature activists, but a common theme was growing fear around expressing themselves.
Mother Nature activists were “gathering strength for an uprising” as evidenced by a Zoom conference where they insulted government leaders and the king, while three arrested activists acknowledged they wanted people to rise up, the Interior Ministry said.
The British Embassy on Wednesday declined to say whether the U.K.’s visiting foreign secretary raised concerns over the arrests of three Mother Nature environmentalists charged with plotting and insulting the king.
They feel intimidated by authorities, and a village official was detained and questioned over the weekend for standing up for the community, but residents protesting the new airport have built a small barricade of branches and cursed the developers in a ceremony.
International rights groups and embassies raised concerns over the recent arrests of Mother Nature environmentalists, as a government-aligned media outlet posted alleged evidence of a Zoom meeting where the activists appear to discuss a cartoon sketch of Prime Minister Hun Sen wearing a crown.
Three Mother Nature environmentalists were charged on Monday and placed in pretrial detention at Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison, as the mother of one of the activists said she was in shock but buoyed by support on social media, including from celebrities.
Four activists arrested this week are all from environmental group Mother Nature, a rights group has said — as an Interior Ministry official alleged the “rebellious” group was using foreign money to try to topple the government.
Three of four environmental activists arrested on Wednesday are accused of plotting, a crime punishable by five to 10 years in prison, according to National Police.
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