Cambodia pledged “drastic measures” against scam compounds in response to U.N. queries about 100,000 alleged human trafficking victims in Sihanoukville, but also denied finding any debt bondage and placed the country’s “reputation, dignity and benefits” at the top of its principles for combating the crime.
Jailed forest activist Chorn Phalla’s wife said Phalla was getting sick in prison and asked for his release, though a prison official disputed the account saying there were doctors inside and the activist was fine.
The family of a Battambang man allegedly tortured to death by police officers wants U.N. rights officers in Cambodia to pay attention to the case and get the family justice.
Jailed sandal-thrower Sam Sokha, sentenced twice for incitement after being extradited from her escape to Thailand, should be released five months early due to health concerns amid the pandemic, her lawyer asked the Kampong Speu Provincial Court.
Jailed unionist Rong Chhunn had “intent to incite social disorder” by releasing statements containing fabrications about the Cambodia-Vietnam border demarcation, the government told the U.N.’s human rights office in response to questions about his arrest.
Some 132 lawsuits against 379 people have been used to silence expression and stifle civic engagement in the year to March, with most of the actions brought by the government, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights said.
Another activist was arrested in Phnom Penh on Thursday as the U.N., international rights groups and dozens of local civil society organizations condemned the government’s “campaign of fear and repression” against human rights defenders.
The U.N. on Tuesday publicly released a letter challenging the government over alleged “intimidation” against a Licadho official, as the government continued to attack the group for participating in “a network” of local and international organizations working to “fabricate” news about Cambodia.
The family of a jailed woman who died while in state custody in Ratanakiri is seeking answers about her cause of death and alleging foul play, while officials say she fell in a prison bathroom and died of a stroke or heart attack.
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