[Tlc] C-jailed news editor

[justinm at ucr.edu]

FYI.
Thanks,
justin

Asia-Pacific News
Cambodia jails news editor despite outcry
Source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1410274.php/Cambodia_jails_news_editor_despite_outcry
Jun 10, 2008, 11:15 GMT

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.


______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu