Mech Dara (pictured left) an award-winning independent journalist based in Phnom Penh, has been arrested on charges of “incitement to disturb social security”, which carries a maximum prison sentence of two years. Presumably the threat he poses is that he has been courageously reporting on the scale of human trafficking for scam compounds in Cambodia. 49 local and international NGOs have called on the Cambodian government to immediately release the journalist, stating that the arrest is “a clear attempt to silence a brave journalist whose investigative journalism has routinely called for accountability in cases of human rights violations”.
Dara is pictured receiving an award from Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State, in 2023. The award was given in recognition of his work exposing the scam compounds staffed mostly by the victims of human trafficking.
Journalist. Free speech. Consumer scams. Government corruption. Are we caring about this? Or do we only care if this kind of thing happens in a country that is both comfortably white and comfortably liberal? Sometimes people care about more about appearances than substance. In other news, the US government keeps refusing to impose sanctions on Cambodia for trafficking the victims forced to work in scam compounds.
