M&G Asia-Pacific NewsJun 10, 2008
Phnom Penh - A Cambodian newspaper editor was in jail Tuesday despite the intervention of the country's Information Ministry seeking his release and a rising outcry from rights and media groups.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said his ministry had personally written to Phnom Penh Municipal Court requesting the release of Dam Sith, editor of pro-opposition Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper and a senior member of the Sam Rainsy Party.
Sith was arrested Sunday on charges of defamation, 'insult' and disinformation and jailed when the court determined that he was a threat to interfere with witnesses, even though none of the charges are criminal offenses.
His charges stem from the newspaper quoting allegedly defamatory remarks regarding Deputy Prime Minister and Cambodian People's Party politburo member Hor Namhong made by opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
'I must stress this is a personal matter ... and nothing to do with the government,' Kanharith said by telephone.
Sith's continuing detention in Phnom Penh's notorious Prey Sar prison has drawn protests from media groups including the South-east Asian Press Alliance, Reporters Without Borders and Cambodia's largest journalism organization, the Club of Cambodian Journalists.
It has also concerned human rights groups who say that with a national election due on July 27, it sends a negative message to voters and potentially silences a leading opposition voice.
Sith's newspaper is the most widely read opposition newspaper in the country.
On Tuesday, Rainsy held a press conference calling for police to arrest him and exchange him for Sith, but without response.
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