A general view shows a street of housing in Phnom Penh, Camboida in April 2010
via CAAI
PHNOM PENH — Cambodia is introducing new laws which rights groups warned Friday could be used to silence critics and stifle freedom of expression.
The new penal code comes into force on Saturday and sets out a string of potential new crimes, including some that could see a person jailed or fined for expressing dissenting views, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said.
"The new code makes it a crime to criticise judges or 'disturb public order' by questioning court decisions," said Sara Colm, a Cambodia-based senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The change would make it "more risky" for court monitors, human rights defenders and victims to speak out, she added.
"We are concerned that provisions in the new penal code, which failed to decriminalise defamation, will be used to silence peaceful critics and suppress freedom of speech."
One law states that any act directed at a public official that affects the "dignity of a person" could be punished with up to six days in prison and a fine, local rights group Licadho said in a legal analysis.
In its most extreme form, the article could "criminalise all acts that hurt the feelings of public officials," the group said.
The government, however, said the penal code was "good news for Cambodia".
"It protects human rights and keeps social order," said government spokesman Phay Siphan.
"If the NGOs say that an article of the criminal code affects the rights of the people they should not make waves but they should file a complaint with the proper institutions to get an amendment," he said.
The code replaces laws set out by a UN transitional authority in the early 1990s after decades of civil war.
The Cambodian government has come under fire from rights groups in recent years for launching a number of defamation and disinformation lawsuits against critics and opposition members.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who lives in self-imposed exile in Europe, faces a total of 12 years in prison if he returns to Cambodia, after a court in September sentenced him to 10 years for publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam.
He already had a two-year jail term hanging over his head for uprooting border markings.
In another high-profile case, local rights activist Leang Sokchouen was jailed for two years in August for disinformation after he allegedly distributed anti-government leaflets.
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