| Radio journalist Mam Sonando, seen here with police in court in 2005, was charged with anti-state activities on Monday. (Reuters/Chor Sokunthea) |
| Mam Sonando (C), Beehive Radio director and president of the Association of Democrats, flashes the peace sign at Phnom Penh Municipal Court before being taken to Prey Sar prison yesterday. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post |
Bangkok, July 17, 2012--Cambodian
authorities should immediately
release Mam Sonando, one of the country's leading critical
journalists, who has been held since Sunday on anti-state charges, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
More than 20 officers arrested
Mam Sonando, owner, director, and political commentator of Beehive
Radio, one of Cambodia's few independent news outlets, at his home in
Phnom Penh, the capital, according to news reports. Police questioned
him for more than two hours on Monday, and then lodged anti-state
charges against him that included insurrection, news reports said. Mam
Sonando could face up to 14 years in prison, the reports said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen and other
government officials accused Mam Sonando of orchestrating recent
protests in Kratie province in which villagers clashed with security
forces over a land dispute with a private Russian company, according to
news reports. Tensions surged in May when a 14-year-old girl was killed
during a military operation to clear the land for foreign development,
reports said. Beehive Radio frequently airs reports on human
rights-related issues, including what it called a recent surge in the
state-backed seizure of land across the country.
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