An Interior Ministry official said Cambodia was studying foreign interference laws, pointing to Cham invasions of ancient Cambodia, while a human rights advocate worried about “color revolution” labels.
The National Assembly on Friday passed a sweeping state of emergency draft law, which rights advocates say is ripe for abuse, as the number of Covid-19 cases in the country has slowly, but steadily risen since last month.
A widely circulated document purported to be a draft of the government’s state of emergency legislation would allow the government to restrict citizens’ movements, and punish them with up to 10 years in jail if they obstruct emergency measures and cause public disorder.
A newly launched government service for free legal consultations could be part of the solution to the country’s judicial woes, experts said, though they also cautioned that the committee overseeing it would need to be transparent and take further steps in the future.
Almost half of the prisoners who appealed their sentences in a 16-month period between 2017 and 2019 were either not allowed to be present at their hearings or had no lawyers to represent them, a rights group said in a report Thursday.
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