Wednesday, January 19, 2011

KI Media

Posted by sam auto blog tune up at 6:51 PM


KI Media

Posted: 19 Jan 2011 06:48 PM PST
By Khmerization

There are media reports that in the last few days, internet users in Cambodia are complaining that they cannot access all websites using blogspot.com as their domain host. the Khmer-language as well the English-language newspapers have reported that internet provider EZECOM ISP has been ordered by Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence to block all websites using blogspot.com as their domain host.

As Khmerization has been using blogspot.com as its domain host it has also been blocked in Cambodia. Some readers in Cambodia, and in Sihanoukville in particular, have complained that they cannot access websites using blogspot.com as their domain host for the last two days. Here is an email from a reader in Sihanoukville to Khmerization:

Dear Khmerisation,
since two days ago we cannot open any blog of blogspot. Do you know something? Is it any kind of censorship?

Khmerization cannot confirm whether this website has been blocked in Cambodia, so we ask readers in Cambodia to confirm if they can or can't access Khmerization website from Cambodia.

Khmerization is not new to controversy. In June 2010, Khmerization blog was blocked in Thailand, apparently for writing and publishing articles critical of the Thai royal family. In May 2008, Khmerization was threatened with a lawsuit from Foreign Minister Hor Namhong after publishing articles related to his involvements with the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 05:33 PM PST
Wed, Jan 19, 2011
AFP

PHNOM PENH - Three people have been arrested for an attack in which two women were splashed with acid, in the country's first such incident of the year, police said Wednesday.

One of the victims, a 27-year-old garment worker, remains in hospital with serious burns to her face, eyes and body, said Kong Sam Orn, a deputy police chief of Phnom Penh's Meanchey district.

The other woman, the driver of the motorcycle on which the two were riding at the time of the attack, suffered leg and arm injuries.

Police said Tuesday's attack was carried out by two brothers and came just one day after the older sibling's wife had a work-related argument with the 27-year-old victim.


"The attack stemmed from the dispute," Kong Sam Orn said, adding that police believed the wife, who was also arrested, had masterminded the crime.

Acid attacks are a common form of revenge in Cambodia where corrosive liquid is easily and cheaply available and attackers are rarely brought to justice.

In an effort to curb the violence, the Cambodian government has drafted legislation that would regulate sales of acid and impose harsher sentences on perpetrators.

Under the new law, expected to be approved later this year, attackers could face 20 years to life in prison.

While there are no official statistics, the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) recorded 19 attacks in 2010, which injured more than 30 people.

"Just a handful of those cases resulted in arrests," said CASC programme manager Chhun Sophea.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 05:28 PM PST
19th of January 2011
AutoEvolution.com

Yes, you've read it right, Cambodia has its very own auto industry and, although it's only about hundreds of vehicles sold every year, at least there is one. But what's more important is that Cambodia experienced an increase last year, a fact that lets those involved in the auto sector hope that even better figures can be achieved this year.

The local division of Toyota proudly said that it managed to reach its sales goal of 500 units in 2010 and announced that it expects to deliver around 600 vehicles this year.

"We met our target, which was slightly better compared to 2009. I did not see the industry change too much compared to a year earlier, however it did not move backward," president Kong Nuon said, according to The Phnom Penh Post.


Chevrolet, which operates in Cambodia through importer Auto Sale, posted an increase of 22 percent as compared to the year before, while local importer Narita Motorcare Cambodia, which sells several Japanese models produced outside the country, experienced a growth of 15 percent in 2010. Ford is the only company that hasn't performed so well in 2010 because it hasn't managed to reach its goal of delivering 400 units in the calendar year that ended December 31.

Of course, all these figures mean nothing as compared to large markets such as China or the United States, but carmakers are injecting money into their local operations and, as far as they are concerned, the country is heading the right direction.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 02:57 PM PST
By Khmer Democrat, Phnom Penh
Dictators are Wimps and Crying Babies Series


The show is on, Baby! The autocratic CPP led by its self-appointed I-am-Dear-Leader-for-Life Hun Sen strike at KI-Media by blocking it via EZECOM and METFONE, owned by their friend and Cambodia's former invader, the Vietnamese military. Free publicity and fame (and greater notoriety of democracy and human rights) for KI-Media!

What, they will now block all the Facebook accounts and Twitter accounts, and all the other non-blogspot.com sites as well?

Stay tune! (But you are already, as KI-Media skyrockets in numbers of new and returning visitors whenever the government interferes.) Thank you, Dictator Hun Sen and the CPP, you Wimps and Sissies!


For EZECOM and METFONE
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 02:33 PM PST
Sovan Philong speaks with reporters after his run in with police and security guards at a protest by Boeung Kak lake. Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Tharum Bun
The Constructive Cambodian
The Phnom Penh Post
Senior writer Tharum Bun writes on the repurcussions of a photojournalist being apprehended by the protectors of the people

Tharum Bun works for Voice of America and is also a freelance writer and one of the first bloggers in Cambodia. 
Phnom Penh has its rich history, during which it has seen drastic shifts in its reputation. In the 1920s, Cambodia's capital city was also known as the Pearl of Asia.

There aren't many people referring to it that way any more. City residents see that this decade's privatizations and urban development is coming and nobody can stop it. All they hope for change is that Phnom Penh will be a more charming city, matching its neighbouring cities like Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, if not Manila and Kuala Lumpur. They're hopeful that along with this dramatic development comes prosperity and peace.

Last week, when a Phnom Penh Post photojournalist had his two digital cameras confiscated by security guards when he was covering a clash with Boeung Kak residents, who were protesting, Cambodian journalists couldn't help but be alarmed.

As a professional photographer, Sovan Philong was treated like a criminal and ordered to delete photographs from his digital cameras.

Like any other journalist, Sovan Philong's role is to document lives of many, who have been affected by the city growth, and would otherwise be silent. Those photographs he took during the riot will become an invaluable draft of history, forever on record to show how this city has changed during this century.

But this case is an aberration in some ways. Private firms, still scared of journalists, could learn something from the government ministries general behaviour towards the press. They know they must communicate with the public in some way, and therefor select a spokesperson who carefully shares information regarding the activities of their ministry.

This mechanism of opening lines of communication with the public without allowing free access has been instrumental in building Cambodia's unique brand of democracy. This clash with a photojournalist is not typical of their careful stance when exposed to public scrutiny.

Perhaps more importantly, this events reminds us all that the government and other power brokers may be talking, but there are things they don't want mentioned. It is people like Sovan Philong, who was doing his job of documenting the history of Cambodia, who might eventually create a city that is once again called a pearl.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 11:02 AM PST
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Meas Sokchea and Summer Walker
The Phnom Penh Post

The government has denied that it has ordered local internet service providers to block a domain hosting controversial antigovernment news blog KI-Media, amid reports customers of the Ezecom ISP were unable to access the site today.

A customer service representative for Ezecom, contacted by The Post today, confirmed that his manager told him to block access to the website, saying the government had informed them to shut it down.

Naly Pilorge, director of the rights group Licadho, said her staff could not access any sites on KI-Media's blogspot.com domain through Ezecom as of this morning, and she had received similar complaints from about 15 others Ezecom customers as early as Tuesday.

She said a customer service representative had also informed her that an unidentified government ministry asked the firm to block the site on Tuesday, due the highly critical commentary posted on the website.

There have been no reports of other ISPs blocking the domain.


Ezecom CEO Paul Blanche-Horgan said he was unaware that any actions had been taken today to shut off access to the website, forwarding questions to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

Government officials contacted today also denied any action to block KI-Media.

"The ministry of posts and telecommunications did not attempt to shut them [KI media] down," Minister of Posts and Telecommunications So Khun told reporters today.

He said, however, that the government had to "make sure that what is on the website is true" and ensure it doesn't post any lewd images.

When contacted today, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said he did not know whether the government had ordered Ezecom to block the blogspot.com domain, but added that KI-Media deserved to be shut down.

"I don't know, but it should be closed," he said, due to its strong criticisms of the government.

Government spokesman and Information Minister Khieu Kanharith could not be reached for comment today.

Naly Pilorge from Licadho said that if the reports that the government had blocked the site were true, it would mark a significant narrowing of the space for public debate.

"This is a critical moment towards censorship and more repression," she said.

"Free access to information is vital to any functioning democracy."

KI-Media last made headlines in December, when Seng Kunnaka, a security guard employed by the United Nations World Food Programme, was charged with incitement and jailed for six months after he showed colleagues an article printed from the website.

Following Seng Kunnaka's conviction, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told The Post that the article had referred to Prime Minister Hun Sen and Var Kimhong, the senior minister in charge of border affairs, as "traitors".

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SAMOEURN SAMBATH
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 08:37 AM PST

A dumb speech of the first lady Bun Rany Hoon Xen aka Bun Sam Heang


Bun Rany gave a speech on Birth Control today at Prek Dach, Srok Lerk Daek which broadcasted on all TV Channels in Cambodia that;" Hhom nak ot deung trov reu kos te na , nak rean pek deung kom serch nhom." "ញុំអ្នកអត់ដឹងត្រូវរឺខុសទេ អ្នករៀនច្ើនពេកដឹងកុំសើចញុំអី"
What a shame for a first lady of the country gave such a useless speech! But of course she is better than her husband that she recognized that she is illiterate, ignorant and dumb​​. This is the fate of our country that the educated are terminated, discriminated, unwelcome, and have no or less chance to help and lead the country except those illiterate, traitorous, puppet, and brutal people.
SHE SPEAKS LIKES HER HUSBAND HOON SEN! RUBBISH!
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 07:40 AM PST
January 19, 2011
Xinhua

Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong said Wednesday that his Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya expressed thanks to Cambodia for releasing some of the seven detained Thais on bail.

During a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat in Indonesia ended on Tuesday, "Mr. Kasit thanked Cambodia for releasing some of them on bail in recent days, " Hor Namhong told reporters on Wednesday.

"In the meeting, we also pledged to maintain currently good relations between the two countries, not allow the case of the seven Thais to affect the improving relations," he said.


"I told him that for the case of the seven Thais, Cambodia follows the legal procedures of the court based on Cambodia's immigration law, without any animosity towards the Thai people," said Namhong. "He also agreed with me."

The seven arrested Thais include a Democrat Member of Parliament for Bangkok Panich Wikitsate and Veera Somkwamkid, Thailand Patriot Network core member.

They were arrested on Dec. 29, last year by Cambodian border protection troops for illegal entry into Cambodian territory in Banteay Meanchey province.

So far, six of them have been released on bail by Cambodian court, except Veera Somkwamkid remains in custody awaiting trial as he was applied an additional charge by Cambodian court for attempt in "collecting information which might damage to Cambodia' s national security". The charge faces up to ten years imprisonment if found guilty.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 07:33 AM PST
January 19, 2011
Xinhua

The Lawyers Council of Cambodia has turned down a request to replace two Cambodian lawyers defending the seven Thais facing prosecution in Phnom Penh with Thai lawyers, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

The request was made by legal advisors of Thailand Patriots Network (TPN), an aggressive nationalistic group to which some of the seven Thais belong to, according to Thani Thongphakdi, director-general of the ministry's Information Department.

Thani told reporters that this meant the seven Thais will continue to be defended in court by the two Cambodian lawyers hired by the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.


He said the Cambodian lawyers planned to petition the Supreme Court in requesting bail for Veera Somkwamkid, a TPN leader who is the only Thai still being detained, after his request for bail had earlier been rejected by an appeal court.

The other six Thais, arrested by Cambodian soldiers on Dec. 29 for alleged illegal entry into the neighboring country, have been granted bail and are currently staying at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.

Thani said his ministry was still unclear when the court will deliver its verdict on the seven Thais.

There have been reports speculating that the court will deliver its verdict on Feb. 1.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 07:31 AM PST
19/01/2011
Bangkok Post

The Lawyers Council of Cambodia has turned down a request to replace the two Cambodian lawyers defending the seven Thais facing trial in Phnom Penh with Thai lawyers, Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said on Wednesday.

The request was made by legal advisers of the Thai Patriots Network.

Mr Thani said this means the seven Thais will continue to be defended in court by the two Cambodian lawyers hired by the Thai embassy.

He said the lawyers were discussing a possible appeal to the Supreme Court with Veera Somkwamkid, the only arrested Thai still in detention. He was denied bail by the Appeals Court.


The Thai embassy would do all it could to help Mr Veera, he said.

Mr Thani also said it was still not clear whether or when the Phnom Penh court would call the next hearing.

Mathurapojana Itharong, deputy director-general of the Consular Affairs Department, and a team of psychiatrists left for Phnom Penh on Wednesday morning to meet the six Thais who have been released on bail and examine their physical and mental health.

Karun Saingam, an adviser of the Thai Patriots Network, also left for the Cambodian capital to visit Mr Veera.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 07:23 AM PST
19 January 2011
By Ly Meng Huor
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Soy

On Wednesday, Internet users in Cambodia could not access the KI-Media website anymore. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) claimed that the blocking of this website that is critical of the government is an order issued on 18 January by the Ministry of Interior (MoI). However, government officials denied, saying that the Cambodian government has no goal of shutting down or blocking Internet users from accessing KI-Media.

Employees for the EZECOM ISP indicated in the afternoon of 19 January that the MoI told it to block all websites hosted by blogspot.com. KI-Media is also hosted by blogspot, a free webhosting service.

The blocking of blogspot and KI-Media, in particular, received outcries from the public as being a prevention of the freedom of expression and the freedom to receive information. The public indicated that the government should shut down KI-Media alone, if this website is found to be doing something wrong.

Nevertheless, the minister of Information and the minister of Post and Telecommunication denied that the government has a goal of shutting down KI-Media, in spite of the fact that EZECOM and Metfone Internet users could not visit KI-Media or blogspot as of 19 Jan 2011.

General Khieu Sopheak, the spokesman for the ministry of Interior (MoI), declined to comment on the order to block KI-Media.


Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman and minister of Information, said briefly that the government has no plan to block KI-Media.

During a press conference on the results of the 10th ASEAN meeting of Telecommunication and Information ministers held in the afternoon of 19 Jan, So Khun, the minister of Post and Telecommunication, denied that the government shut down KI-Media. He said that the inability to access this website could be due to technical problem.

KI-Media criticized and insulted nonstop the government leaders. Recently, the pro-opposition website KI-Media attached the word traitors to the pictures of the government leaders in regards to the border issue between Cambodia and Vietnam.

The printing of an article from KI-Media on 19 Dec 2010 landed a 6-month jail sentencing on Seng Kunakar, an employee for the World Food Program (WFP).
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 06:32 AM PST
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 19, 2011 (Xinhua News Agency) -- The Cambodian government has denied that action was taken against critical web blog that runs from overseas.

Khieu Kanharith, minister of information and the government's spokesman said Wednesday that no action was taken against KI-Media, a web blog which is critical to the government.

He said he still can access to the web as of Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, local media Cambodian Express News reported a few users of EZECOM internet service provider, one of the country's internet services are complaining they are not able to access to the website, quoting a source as saying all websites with BlogSpot which includes KI-Media are blocked by the Interior Ministry.

But, spokesman of Interior Ministry could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

KI-Media which runs from overseas is considered by some readers as a critical blog against the Cambodian government which often carries articles touching on corruption, poverty among others.

No one could confirm whereabouts KI-Media is exactly operated, except saying it is run from overseas.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 02:45 AM PST

DAP-News reported in its frontpage that So Khun, the minister of Post and Telecommunication, indicated the Hun Xen's government has no goal and no plan to shut down KI-Media.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 02:22 AM PST
19 January 2011
By Ly Hov
Cambodia Express News
Translated from Khmer by Soch

Phnom Penh –The Ministry of Interior (MoI) ordered all Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Cambodia to block the KI-Media website. This order was issued on 18 January 2011.

As of 19 January 2011, Khieu Sopheak, the MoI spokesman, could not be reached to obtain clarifications on the order to block KI-Media.

However, the EZECOM ISP indicated in the afternoon of 19 Jan that the MoI told it to block all websites hosted by blogspot.com, including the KI-Media website.

KI-Media is a website that criticizes and insults the government leaders, calling them traitors in the Cambodia-Vietnam border case.

On 19 December 2010, the Phnom Penh municipal court sentenced 40-year Seng Kunakar, an employee for the World Food Program (WFP), to 6 months of jail and fined him 1 million riels (~$250) for incitation to crime as stipulated in Article 495 of the new penal code. This sentence was issued after Seng Kunakar printed an article from KI-Media, a website that is against the government of Cambodia.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 02:07 AM PST
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
By Anonymous

I would like to inform that the KI-Media.blogspot.com and all blogspot website was blocked in Cambodia. EZECOM, the Internet Service Provide Company in Phnom Penh, certified that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Company to block KI-Media and all blogspot websites.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 12:49 AM PST
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 12:16 AM PST
Hor 5 Bora (aka Baby Hor)
Jan 19, 2011
By Tharum Bun
AsianCorrespondent.com

An edition of the BBC's Crossing Continents with the title 'Cambodia: Country for Sale' has prompted a letter from the UK's Ambassador of Cambodia, who wrote last week that "reporter Mukul Devichand appeared to be pursuing a very clear agenda; the intention being to discredit the Royal Government of Cambodia and sully its reputation."

Ambassador Hor Nambora's letter came just a day after the BBC radio documentary series ran the story that explains "why global investors are suddenly fighting to snap up cheap fertile paddy fields from poor villagers, who claim they are being exploited and intimidated."

Crossing Continents reporter Mukul Devichand reported:
Journalistically, this is the most difficult part of the assignment. While there are no end of non-governmental organisations eager to take us to villages where they claim there was wrongdoing, the business community – perhaps understandably – are wary of foreign reporters.
In the 13-January response to the BBC Radio 4 Controller Gwyneth Williams, the Cambodian envoy said
In his article to complement the programme which appeared on several BBC websites, Mr Devichand's argument that Cambodia is a "Country for Sale" seemed to bear an uncomfortable similarity to the ferocious and malicious allegations made against the Cambodian Government in recent years by the international pressure group, Global Witness.
The Phnom Penh Post also has the story: Cambodian envoy raps BBC report
The Cambodian Ambassador's comments are just the latest in a long series of attacks against Global Witness and the BBC. In 2009 he derided a BBC report on land disputes as "extremely one-sided", and has lobbed similar criticisms at journalists from The Guardian and The Financial Times.
A Wikipedia entry says Crossing Continents is "a half-hour BBC Radio 4 documentary programme, focusing on foreign affairs issues through on-location journalism and interviews from various parts of the world."
In Croatia, the programme was heavily criticised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, the Prime Minister and the President claiming that the programme's reporter was biased and presented the country focused on a couple of incidents which cannot represent the safety conditions for the whole nation as well as tourists.
Posted: 19 Jan 2011 12:05 AM PST
Thursday, January 20, 2011
The Nation

A Cambodian court will rule on early next month the case of seven Thais who were charged with illegal entry into Cambodian soil, a Thai Foreign Ministry source said Wednesday.

The source quoted a report from Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh as saying that the court will rule on February 1 at 7.30am.

The seven Thais were charged with illegal entry into Cambodia and entering a military post without permission. Two of them, including Veera Somkwamkit, leader of Thai Patriots Network, faced an additional charge of spying.

However it is unclear whether the court will rule on all allegations or not, the source said.


All but Veera were freed on bail on the conditions that they remained in Cambodia, paid bail bond and be ready to report to authorities when summoned. The six suspects are now staying in the Thai embassy's compound.

Thai Ambassador to Phnom Penh Prasas Prasasvinitchai is now consulting with the six suspects to know their need in pursuing the case. The source said no Thai wished to change lawyer as earlier reported.

Referring to Veera who is the only Thai remaining in jail, the source said the lawyer has discussed with Veera about a final appeal against the court's refusing to deny him a bail.

If they finish the draft, they may submit the final appeal within today.
Posted: 18 Jan 2011 11:11 PM PST
Suy Sem, the CPP minister of Mining and Energy, and Chea Kheng, his wife who is accused of harassing Sam Chankea
URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY

KHM 001 / 0111 / OBS 002
Judicial Harassment
Cambodia
January 18, 2011

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Cambodia.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed of the judicial harassment faced by Mr. Sam Chankea, Coordinator of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) in Kampong Chhnang, a human rights defender active in land rights issues.

According to the information received, Mr. Sam Chankea will face trial today, January 18, 2011 before the Kg. Chhnang Provincial Court in Cambodia for allegedly defaming the work of KDC International Company, owned by Lauk Chumteav Chea Kheng, wife of Minister of Mining and Energy.

The complaint against Mr. Sam Chankea follows a radio interview broadcast on December 26, 2009 in which he expressed his opinion over a land case conflict opposing dozens of villagers and the KDC International company in Kampong Chhnang province. In this interview Mr. Sam Chankea stated that "what the company has done is an act of violation since the court has yet to rule on the merits of the case. Therefore the company should suspend the activity and await the ruling on the merits of the case". He was subsequently quoted in Koh Santepheap newspaper on December 30, 2009.


The dispute, which dates back to 2002, is a long-standing land conflict between the above-mentioned company and more than 100 families which have sued the company for having bulldozed their land, damaged their properties, grabbed their land and violated their rights. The proceedings are still on-going.

The Observatory calls for the full respect of fair trial standards and urges the Kampong Chhnang provincial Court to dismiss the case so as to ensure that anyone's right to freedom of expression is adequately and properly upheld.

More generally, the Observatory urges the Cambodian authorities to ensure the protection of human rights defenders who face reprisals as a consequence of the legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression.

Actions requested:

Please write to the Cambodian authorities and ask them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Sam Chankea;

ii. Put an end to acts of harassment - including at the judicial level - against him as well as against all human rights defenders in Cambodia;

iii. Conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly, and in particular :

- Article 1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels",

- Article 6 (b) and (c) which states that "Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, as provided for in human rights and other applicable international instruments, freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms; to study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters,

- and Article 12.2 which provides that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration".

iv. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Cambodia.

Addresses:

- Mr. Hun Sen, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia, Fax: +855 23 36 06 66 / 855 23 88 06 24 (c/o Council of Ministers), Email: leewood_phu@nida.gov.kh

- Mr. H.E. Ang Vong Vathna, Minister of Justice, No 240, Sothearos Blvd, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia, Fax: 023 364119. Email: moj@cambodia.gov.kh

- Mr. Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Ministry of Interior, 275 Norodom Blvd, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia, Fax: + 855 23 212708. Email: moi@interior.gov.kh

- Mr. Hor Nam Hong, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 161 Preah Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia, Fax: + 855 23 21 61 44 / + 855 23 21 69 39. Email: mfaicasean@bigpond.com.kh

- Ambassador Mr. Sun Suon, Permanent Mission of Cambodia to the United Nations in Geneva, Chemin de Taverney 3, Case postale 213, 1218 Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 788 77 74. Email: cambodge@bluewin.ch

Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Cambodia in your respective countries.

***
Paris-Geneva, January 18, 2011

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

- Email: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
- Tel and fax FIDH: +33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / 01 43 55 18 80
- Tel and fax OMCT: + 41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
Posted: 18 Jan 2011 10:53 PM PST
Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, the victim of an enforced "disappearance" from February 2009 to March 2010, and again in April 2010. © CHRD
Give China's disappeared a voice at U.S.-China summit

By Phelim Kine
Published in: The Washington Times.
January 17, 2011
"If President Obama can raise just one human rights issue at the summit this week with Chinese President Hu Jintao, he should speak for China's disappeared." - Phelim Kine, Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch.
If President Obama can raise just one human rights issue at the summit this week with Chinese President Hu Jintao, he should speak for China's disappeared.

On Dec. 19, 2009, 20 Uighurs - a Muslim ethnic minority in China who have long suffered from state discrimination and other abuses - were forced onto a Chinese government plane in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, flown back to China and effectively disappeared into official custody. Since then, the only whisper of the fate of the deported Uighurs - who included two infants - was an unconfirmed report in mid-January 2010 that some of them had been sentenced by a Xinjiang court to verdicts that included the death penalty.

The group - which had sought refugee status in Cambodia - had been issued "persons of concern" letters by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees; under international law, those documents should have provided them protection from deportation. The Chinese government insisted that the 20 Uighurs were "criminals" to whom those protections did not apply. The Cambodian government ignored the high likelihood that the Uighurs would face torture, disappearance and/or arbitrary detention upon return to China, and under pressure from Beijing, Cambodia forced the Uighurs to return. Shortly after their plane left, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping touched down for a high-profile state visit to Cambodia, suggesting that Phnom Penh prioritized Beijing's demands over Cambodia's obligations under international law.


In a report released Jan. 11 on the failures of China's first human rights "action plan," Human Rights Watch documented an alarming variety of enforced disappearances in China. Ongoing efforts to locate dozens of Uighur men and boys disappeared by security forces in Urumqi in the wake of the July 2009 protests there have yielded virtually no information as to their status or well-being.

Enforced disappearances are a favorite tool for purging China's petitioners - rural residents seeking legal redress for abuses of power at the local level. Every year in Beijing alone, thousands of petitioners are abducted, detained and subjected to appalling abuses in a network of secret, illegal detention facilities known as "black jails." Despite a recent spate of Chinese state media reports of these abuses, the government has failed to publicly decry such violations or take decisive actions to halt them or punish the perpetrators.

China's high-profile dissidents are also subjected to enforced disappearances. Gao Zhisheng, a lawyer who took on some of China's most controversial causes, including defending miners and religious minorities like the Falun Gong and underground Christians, was the victim of an enforced disappearance in February 2009. Mr. Gao re-emerged in his Beijing apartment in early April 2010 but vanished again days later, apparently back into official custody. Mr. Gao's location, health and circumstances remain unknown.

Rights-respecting governments have made regular inquiries about all of these kinds of cases, only to be told not to "interfere in internal affairs." The deportation of the Uighurs and the recent events in Oslo serve as a stark reminder of the Chinese government's greater willingness to try to use its rising economic power and growing diplomatic heft to exempt itself frominternational human rights standards, no matter how shrill and crude those tactics appear.

Just six days after the Uighurs' deportation, a Beijing court sentenced Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo to an 11-year prison term on spurious "subversion" charges for his role in drafting the online petition Charter '08. That document calls for peaceful political change and rights embodied in China's constitution. As expectations grew that Mr. Liu would win the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, the Chinese government dispatched no less than its deputy foreign minister to Oslo to threaten that honoring Mr. Liu would harm bilateral China-Norway relations. After his selection was announced, the Chinese government vociferously denounced the award. Early last month, it issued explicit warnings to foreign governments not to attend the Dec. 10 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on the basis that Mr. Liu was a "criminal." While 45 nations ignored that pressure, a total of 19 countries - including China's close allies Pakistan, Russia and Cuba - chose to stay away.

Mr. Obama will meet with the leader of an assertive government ever more willing to use its rising influence to obtain international silence for its abuse of human rights. The onus is on Mr. Obama to express the same support for universal human rights and freedoms as he did on Dec. 10, when he praised Mr. Liu's Nobel Prize victory and urged his immediate release.

Mr. Obama must use the occasion of his summit with the Chinese president to reiterate U.S. government expectations that a rising China must respect universal rights and freedoms rather than undermine them. Failure to do so will only ensure that more innocent Chinese citizens will join those lost 20 Uighurs in the ranks of China's disappeared.

Phelim Kine is an Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch.
Posted: 18 Jan 2011 10:30 PM PST
Wed, Jan 19, 2011
The Nation/Asia News Network

Three Cambodian victims of human trafficking jumped into the Chao Phraya River early yesterday to escape from a fishing boat, where they said they were held against their will.

Two people are still missing, but the third filed a police complaint yesterday, which led to the rescue of six others from Cambodia on the boat.

Police boarded the vessel, named Mahatthana or KM Beksa, yesterday morning. It was docked behind Sripitak Frozen Food in Muang district and about to set sail for the Indonesian Sea.

They found six Cambodians allegedly detained on board by captain Phailin Phromsuwan, 44, and his subordinates Thananan Yothachai, 32, and Adichat Saetang, 24.


The three were charged with illegal detention, smuggling alien workers into Thailand and human trafficking.

The Cambodian who lodged the complaint with police, identified only as Seu, 23, said he and eight other Cambodians had worked on a sugarcane farm in Sa Kaew before being lured by a Thai man, Suthin Teeram, to get a lift on his pick-up truck to find construction work.

They arrived at the dock on Monday evening to 'just stay' overnight, but soon realised they were being detained. At 4am, Seu and two others jumped into the river, he said.

Seu said he was rescued by a taxi driver, who took him to police shortly after.
Posted: 18 Jan 2011 10:16 PM PST

DAP-News posted on its front page that KI-Media has been blocked in Cambodia, yet, several readers have informed us that they can still access KI-Media from Cambodia.

If you think you are blocked from accessing KI-Media, you can access always access our mirror website at:


Other mirrors will be added soon. Follow us on twitter at:
Posted: 18 Jan 2011 09:52 PM PST
Jan 18, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia and Myanmar have agreed to begin direct flights in a bid to boost tourism, local media reported Wednesday.

Cambodia's Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said the twice-weekly flights would link Myanmar's capital Yangon and Cambodia's tourist centre of Siem Reap, home to the Angkor Wat temple complex.

He said Myanmar Airways International would operate the flights, with the first scheduled for February 23.

Thong Khon announced the deal at the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), a week-long gathering of the Association of South-East Asian Nations in Phnom Penh to boost tourism to the region and between the group's 10 member states.


He said Cambodia was also using the opportunity of hosting the ATF to try and negotiate improved flight connections with other countries.

'We are hopeful that if we have direct flights with Russia and Japan, their tourists will increasingly come to our country,' he told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

Around 2.5 million people visited Cambodia last year, of whom just 2,600 were from Myanmar. Tourism is one of Cambodia's key economic pillars.
Posted: 18 Jan 2011 09:44 PM PST
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