2012-07-23
Radio Free Asia
Cambodian activists hold protests calling for independent radio director Mam Sonando’s release.
The head of an independent Cambodian radio station arrested a
week ago for allegedly spearheading a land uprising has fallen ill in prison, his wife said Monday.
Mam Sonando, the director of
Beehive Radio, was moved to a prison clinic for medical treatment on
Sunday over a serious flu, wife Den Phanara said as more than 100
activists gathered in Phnom Penh on Monday to pray for his release.
“He
has the flu. He couldn’t talk,” she said, adding that he had gotten
sick from his cellmates in Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar Prison, where he is
awaiting trial on charges of orchestrating a land revolt in Kratie
province that triggered a security crackdown and bloody clashes in May.
Den
Phanara said the cell where he was being held before being taken to the
clinic was narrow and that he had shared it with 15 others.
Mam
Sonando, who is in his late 60s and head of the Association for
Democrats activist group, was arrested at his home on July 15 after
returning from a trip abroad and charged in court the next day.
He has rejected the charges. Lawyers said he faces a lengthy prison term if found guilty.
Human
rights groups have protested the arrest, saying it was politically
motivated and had dealt a blow to media freedom. They said the
authorities were using the outspoken critic as a scapegoat for the
country’s explosive land dispute issues.
Prayer ceremony
More
than 100 Beehive Radio and Association of Democrats supporters
protested Monday in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, calling for
Mam Sonando’s release and holding a prayer ceremony for him at the
Preah Ang Dongkher statue.
Association of Democrats Secretary
General Huon Phannary said supporters across the country have marched
and prayed to call for his release.
“We have prayed that the
court will seek justice for Mam Sonando regarding the charges against
him. We are praying to all the sacred spirits that he will be released,”
she said.
Am Sam Ath, a senior investigator for the Cambodian
rights group Licadho, said Monday’s prayer ceremony was intended to send
a message to the government to reconsider any targeting of Mam Sonando
for political reasons.
“This ceremony will allow the court and
the government to consider whether they find Mam Sonando guilty of any
crime, and if not then the court can drop the charges and release him,”
he said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen had last month accused Mam
Sonando of leading a "secession" plot and attempting to establish "a
state within a state” over a mass land occupation in Kratie’s Chhlong
district, where clashes broke out after over 1,000 families in Broma
village refused to vacate farmland granted to a developer in a
concession for a rubber plantation.
Mam Sonando’s lawyer Sok Sam
Oeun said Monday that the radio station chief will not be eligible for a
request for bail until he has been held for a month.
He added
that Mam Sonando—who has been arrested twice before, for alleged
defamation and for giving "false" information that “incited” others to
commit crimes—plans to appeal the current charges against him.
Some
rights groups said the government delayed his arrest to wait for the
conclusion of the high profile annual meeting of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations held in Phnom Penh and attended by U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other international dignitaries.
Beehive
Radio, which broadcasts on 105 FM in Phnom Penh, is one of few media
outlets in the country airing independent news, including coverage of
opposition and minority political parties, and carries programming by
RFA and Voice of America.
Reported by Uon Chhin and Vichey
Ananddh for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in
English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
1 comment:
Cpp hunsuck is responsible for Mam Sonondo well being if anything happen to him,Mam Sonondo comits no crime,Hun suck did comited crimes against humanity.
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