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10 injured as Cambodia cracks down on NagaWorld protest

Editor3 years ago08 mins

At least ten people were injured Monday when security forces in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh violently dispersed a strike, ramping up a crackdown on workers involved in a six-month-old labor dispute with the NagaWorld Casino. Strikers told RFA Khmer that “hundreds” of security personnel were deployed to set up roadblocks and otherwise stymie the peaceful protest by around 150 mostly female NagaWorld workers near the downtown casino. They said authorities beat them when they wouldn’t board a bus sent to ferry them away from the area, leaving 10 people in need of medical attention. A worker named Chan Srey Roth said a security officer hit her in the head with a walkie talkie and repeatedly insulted her during the incident, while other officers “grabbed male workers by the hair and smashed their heads” against the side of the police vehicle. “They are members of the national security forces, whose duty is to protect the people, not to use violence against them – particularly against women,” she said. “We raised our hands, begging them not to beat us, but they did so anyway, ordering us to disperse. When we interlocked our hands, they tried to break our chain and dragged us off, one by one, to brutally beat us. One of them hit me in the face with a walkie talkie and kicked me, while cursing at me.” Another worker, Phat Channa, said authorities are increasingly turning to violence to break up gatherings by her group as protesters refuse to board the buses police have used to relocate them to Prek Pnov district, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. “They beat me unconscious. I was shocked because they didn’t bother to consider that we are women – they just dragged us away and beat us like dogs,” she said. “We have experienced a lot of injustice. We are only demanding the right to work, but they beat us like beasts.” Other protesters told RFA that authorities prevented civil society representatives and United Nations human rights officials from monitoring Monday’s protest and threatened to confiscate the phones and cameras of anyone seen documenting the incident, unless they deleted their photos and video. A statement issued by the Phnom Penh government claimed that Monday’s protest was “an ugly event that was planned in advance by a handful of people seeking to make the authorities look bad.” “They disrupted social and public order, leading to violence that left a number of authorities injured and resulted in the loss of five walkie talkies and one watch.” Government Human Rights Committee spokesperson Kata Un accused the strikers of holding an illegal rally and called the response by authorities “an educational measure.” “In the case of illegal acts, the authorities have the right to use whatever measures are necessary to stop, disperse, or suppress the perpetrators,” he said. “So far, the Phnom Penh authorities have not taken any repressive measures. What the authorities are doing is educating people to avoid restricted areas and to instead hold protests in Freedom Park [in the Phnom Penh suburbs].” Six-month dispute Thousands of NagaWorld workers walked off their jobs in mid-December, demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of eight jailed union leaders, three other jailed workers and 365 others they say were unjustly fired from the hotel and casino owned by a Hong Kong-based company believed to have connections to family members of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. The strikers began holding regular protest rallies in front of the casino, drawing the attention of NGOs and U.N. agencies who have urged Cambodia’s government to stop persecuting them and help resolve their dispute in accordance with labor laws. Cambodian authorities allege that the strikes by NagaWorld workers are part of a “foreign plot to topple the government,” although they have provided no evidence to back up their claim. An increasingly tough response by security personnel led to pushing and shoving during a strike outside the casino’s offices on May 11 that one worker claimed caused her to miscarry her pregnancy two weeks later. Am Sam Ath, chief of General Affairs for Cambodian rights group LICADO, told RFA that authorities have made the NagaWorld dispute worse by leveling allegations against the workers and cracking down on their protests. “We don’t want to see a labor dispute between NagaWorld and its workers turn into a dispute between the authorities and the workers,” he said. “What we want to see is a peaceful settlement to the issue, and these incidents of violence don’t benefit anyone.” Am Sam Ath urged the Ministry of Labor, as well as other relevant state institutions, to remain neutral and end their accusations against the NagaWorld workers and called for a resolution of the dispute in accordance with the law and international labor practices. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Mekong dams must release less water in dry season to preserve habitats, experts say

Editor3 years ago07 mins

Abnormally high-water levels in the Mekong River at the end of May indicate that dams on the river must release less water during the dry season to protect the ecosystem, experts said at an online panel Monday. Rain levels during the dry season this year have increased, experts told an online seminar about the unseasonably wet 2022 dry season, hosted by the Washington-based Stimson Center. But they singled out dams, particularly in China and Laos, as adding to the problem of flooding along the lower half of the river, threatening the ecosystems there. The Mekong region is home to numerous species of plants and animals that rely on its annual changes from dry season to wet season and back again, the panelists said. Disruption of the cycle is harmful to many of the species, and in turn the riparian communities that depend on them. “I think our data shows that very clearly the river level there is much higher during the dry season than normal … and China’s dams actually can be part of the solution,” Brian Eyler, Southeast Asia program director of the Stimson Center and co-lead of its Mekong Dam Monitor Project, told the panel on Monday. “They wield a lot of power over the downstream, particularly those two largest dams,” he said. “We found that they can they alone can raise the river level by 50 percent … for total dry season flow. That’s power,” he said, adding that the dams could also help to restore natural flow in times of need. The Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental body that helps to coordinate management of the river, reported that May 2022 was the second wettest May since it began collecting data. Total flow in May was 22.8 billion cubic meters, about 150% higher than the average flow of 9 billion cubic meters. The Mekong Dam Monitor’s data suggested that about 6 billion cubic meters from the flow came from dam releases upstream, mostly in China. An example of how the increased flow could affect species is the Mekong Flooded Forest, said Ian Baird, a geography professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The World Wildlife Fund said the flooded forest is “a spectacular 27,000 km² complex of freshwater ecosystems including wetlands, sandy and rocky riverine habitats in northern-central Cambodia, bordering the South of Laos.” Baird said that the forest’s most striking feature, trees that jut upward from the floodwaters, relies on drier periods when the trees are not submerged. “Right now what we can see is that, the bushes that are in the lowest part of the river have been heavily impacted. The Blodgett trees have [exhibited] medium impacts,” he said. “So, I mean, things are already bad, but it’s important to understand that they could get a lot worse than they are now. And really the way to mitigate this is to release less water in the dry season,” Baird said. But he said that decisions about upstream releases are mostly beyond Cambodia’s control. “This is all water coming from above Cambodia, you know, but there is a lot that China and Laos could do, especially China, I think, that that could reduce the impact.” The Mekong River ecosystem could be lost if nothing is done, Chea Seila, project manager of the Wonders of the Mekong, a research group that receives funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development. She brought up the world record 300-kilogram giant freshwater stingray that was recently caught, tagged by her team and released in Stung Treng. “The discovery of this [world record breaking] fish indicates the special opportunity that we have in Cambodia and also to protect the species, and also the core habitat,” she said. Eyler of the Stimson Center said that although existing dams could help keep the river’s flow closer to expected averages, building more could create new problems. “I would not recommend building more dams to counter this effect, which is a discourse that we’re hearing coming out of the Mekong River Commission, that there’s an investment solution to this, there’s an infrastructure solution to this,” he said. “I think that’s a very expensive, dangerous and risky proposition, particularly when there are solutions at hand,” Eyler said.

Myanmar junta deploys loudspeakers in bid to prompt PDF surrender

Editor3 years ago011 mins

Myanmar’s junta has launched a campaign urging local members of the armed opposition to surrender, vowing to step down following elections planned for 2023, but prodemocracy fighters on Monday dismissed the move as a sign of desperation from a military regime barely clinging to power. Beginning on June 12, state-run media outlets published an announcement by the junta calling on members of all armed groups — including the People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group it has labeled a terrorist organization — to lay down their weapons and return to civilian life. Three days later, residents told RFA Burmese that they began hearing similar messages over loudspeakers from vehicles escorted by the military through several cities and townships. “Their message was that they will be holding elections … and power will be handed over to the victorious [political] party, so they want the PDFs to give up their arms and surrender to the law,” said a resident of Myanmar’s second city Mandalay, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said that people “ignored the announcements.” Various armed resistance groups that have sworn loyalty to Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) told RFA that surrendering to the junta is not an option. Sein Kyaw, the head of the Myaung Revolution Army in embattled Sagaing region’s Myaung township, said he and his fellow fighters must refrain from responding to the military convoys with calls of the same offer. “There are people from their side who came to join [us]. … There are officers and soldiers who left the army. We PDFs are fighting against them as a people’s movement because we can’t tolerate their rule,” he said. “We have no intention of surrendering to them. We will fight until the terrorist military dictatorship is uprooted and a federal democratic union established, leaving no dictators in our country.” Sein Kyaw said the junta is incapable of rule, noting that his and several other townships in Sagaing lack operating schools, and suggesting that an election next year is unlikely as there is little coordination between the executive, judicial and legislative branches of the government. A spokesman for the Sagaing-based Ranger Kalay Defense Force, who also declined to be named, told RFA that the military’s invitation is seen as a political ploy. “I don’t think they have the power to conquer us at this time and they are making this move knowing that they cannot win,” he said. “No matter how much they implore us, we will not fall for this. We will do what is right until the very end.” A photo released by Myanmar’s military shows members of the PDF surrendering to junta authorities, June 20, 2022. Credit: Myanmar military Dividing the opposition PDF groups also slammed the military’s call for their surrender while offering to hold peace talks with the country’s ethnic armed groups, which they said was a tactic intended to create a schism within the opposition. Junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in April called on Myanmar’s ethnic armed groups to hold peace talks and end armed conflict with the military, but he refused to meet with the PDF, and observers say there is little chance that a resolution can be reached without all stakeholders taking part in negotiations. Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun has said that there will be no talks with the NUG, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Committee of Representatives, or the PDF because their objectives “are totally different from that of the ethnic armed groups” and “terrorist” in nature. But Naing Htoo Aung, secretary of the NUG’s Ministry of Defense, said Monday that peace will not be possible in Myanmar without the participation of the NUG and the PDF. “For many years, the military has used a strategy to divide the unity of the armed resistance, and it’s doing the same even now,” he said. “There can be no internal peace without the NUG or PDF, without a genuine intention of leaving politics by the military, or without accountability for their misdeeds or a strong commitment to a federal democracy.” Naing Htoo Aung said that, given the current political climate, elections are unlikely in 2023. If the junta pushes forward with a vote, he added, it will not reflect the will of the people. A spokesman for the Saw Township People’s Administration in Magway region, which operates under the NUG government, said that even if the military holds an election next year, no one in his region will participate. “I think an election is impossible, especially in our area. They can’t even operate their [administrative] machinery here and if they try to hold an election, there will be no election staff,” he said. “A war of resistance is continuing nationwide. Some of the military camps have even been taken over. They might be able to hold sham elections in cities they control like Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw … but a nationwide election is impossible.” Junta defections According to the junta, at least 66 PDF fighters have handed over their weapons since the call to surrender was issued earlier this month, although RFA was unable to independently verify the claim. Political observer Than Soe Naing disputed the claim and suggested that the junta had issued the call to surrender as a tactic to end defections by members of the military and boost morale. “So far, the number of soldiers and policemen who have defected is more than 20,000, so I think this is a political ploy to stop [the defections],” he said, adding that “no PDF fighter has willingly surrendered.” He said that the opposition must defeat the military before an election is held next year if the people of Myanmar have any hope of reinstating democracy, as the junta will almost certainly install a puppet “civilian government” that will preserve its rule. Since 2010, there have been three general elections in Myanmar. The military overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government on Feb. 1, 2021, claiming voter fraud had led to a landslide victory for Aung San Suu…

Superstitious strongman

Editor3 years ago01 mins

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen changed his official birthdate to Aug. 5, 1952 from April 4, 1951, a switch he said corrected a mistake from back when it was registered during wartime in the Southeast Asian country. But critics say the highly superstitious strongman moved his birth from the Year of the Rabbit to the Year of the Dragon, considered auspicious to followers of the Chinese zodiac. Some reports said he changed the date after the recent death of his older brother, fearing the birthdate he had been using may have led to his brother’s demise because it conflicted with the Chinese zodiac.

Married couple tied up and shot by regime forces in Tanintharyi region

Editor3 years ago04 mins

Two people in their sixties were tied up and shot dead at close range by junta forces and their allies at a village in Myanmar’s southwestern Tanintharyi region on Sunday as revenge attacks by troops and their militia allies increase. Around 15 troops, and militia members from a nearby village entered Kadakgyi village in Launglon township, Dawei district, according to an official from the Democracy Movement Strike Committee (DMSC), Dawei district. The official identified the married couple as Thaung Win and Win Aye (nicknamed Mi Kyone). He said militia members from Pande village took part in the killings. “They came into the village and cuffed the couple’s hands behind their backs. The couple were shot dead in the street. I could not see any badges, but there were military intelligence and military-affiliated Pyu Saw Htee members,” the official said. The two villagers were shot in their heads, eyes, stomachs and backs, the official told RFA, adding that the bodies had been taken to a morgue. The couple had been involved in the anti-regime movement and supported young protesters, the official said. Junta forces and their militia allies looted houses after the killings. CREDIT: Democracy Movement Strike Committee, Dawei district. Local residents said the junta forces raided five houses in Kadakgyi village and took money and valuables after killing the couple. They say the troops and militia destroyed homes and belongings that were not claimed by villagers. The military council has not released a statement about the incident and calls to a military council spokesman by RFA went unanswered on Monday. The DMSC statement said six civilians had been shot dead and two injured by junta forces and Pyu Saw Htee groups between June 16 and 26. There has been a rise in attacks involving pro-junta militia in Tanintharyi recently. The Soon Ye (Kite Force) militia is thought to be behind the shooting deaths of three villagers in Launglon township on April 28 and another killing on the road between Dawei and Launglon on May 3. The day before the second killing, the militia wrote on Facebook that it had the addresses of anti-coup protesters and would harm their families if they did not stop their activities. At least 2,021 people have been killed in Myanmar since the coup on February 1, 2021 to June 24 this year, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). Figures gathered by Data for Myanmar between February 1, 2021 and April 28, 2022 show that 27 people had been killed in Taninthary, the sixth highest level of 15 regions.

Vietnam falls far short of its committment to freedom of expression, report says

Editor3 years ago05 mins

Vietnam has a long way to go before it can realize its goal of joining the UN Human Rights council, according to the Vietnam Human Rights Network (VNHRN). The pressure group points to Vietnam’s treatment of journalists, who the government says are protected from all forms of discrimination and violence. “In fact, the arrests and imprisonment of those who use the right to freedom of expression to voice their opinions are at their peak,” the report said. From the beginning of 2021 to May 31 this year, VNHRN said at least 48 people were arrested and detained, and 72 were given heavy sentences. “Most of them were convicted for allegedly using the media to express their opinions and aspirations other than the ruling party’s. To our knowledge, Vietnamese authorities currently imprison at least 290 political and religious prisoners with multi-year sentences,” the report said. Along with restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and information, VNHRN’s president Nguyen Ba Tung told RFA the government is ignoring many more basic human rights, describing the 2019 labor law as an empty promise and also criticizing the government’s track record on religion. “Regarding the right to religious freedom, the government has increased its control and manipulation of religious organizations and eliminated non-registered religious groups,” he said, adding that the government has promoted political dogma over religious faith. “We raised the issue of children being indoctrinated in schools as well as in organizations like Uncle Ho’s Good Children – an issue that has not been raised in any international report on the issue of children’s rights.” Nguyen said that no international research agency has talked about the discrimination faced by non-party members no matter how well they had served the country in the past. “Someone raised the fact that military officers must be party members, which violates the basic rights of people in the political sphere and even as a citizen in defending one’s homeland,” he said. VNHRN’s report covers last year and the first few months of 2022. It was put together with help from several activists in Vietnam. The study focuses on the areas outlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Conventions on Human Rights that Vietnam has committed to observing. Those rights are: liberty, security of person, a fair trial by an independent, impartial tribunal; the right to participate in national political life, freedom of expression and information, freedom of religion and worship; the right to work and enjoy the fruits of that labor, equal treatment and non-discrimination, and well-being. VNHRN said the aim of the report is to alert the world about what it called “the alarming human rights situation in Vietnam today.” The report also offers the Vietnamese government what VNHRN called “concrete and feasible recommendations for the Vietnamese government to terminate its repeated violations throughout the years.” VNHRN said that until Vietnam improved its human rights record members of the United Nations General Assembly should vote against Vietnam’s membership of its Human Rights Council.

Teachers in Myanmar caught in crossfire as conflict rages

Editor3 years ago014 mins

Schoolteachers in Myanmar, many of whom joined a national strike to protest the ruling military regime, have been increasingly caught in the crossfire following the February 2021 coup that overthrew the elected government. As of May, at least 40 teachers had been killed, according to the ruling junta. Educators who have gone on strike to oppose the regime and those who have not have both been killed in fighting between soldiers and members of anti-regime militias. At least 10 teachers have been killed in 33 arson attacks in the past two months alone, according to Save The Children, an aid group. About 260 schools and other educational buildings have been attacked since the coup. Now, the junta is asking schoolteachers who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a massive strike by teachers, doctors and other professionals against the military coup, to return to classrooms in schools administered by the regime’s Education Department. Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for the junta, told reporters on May 19 that People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), militias that have fought against the military, were to blame for harassing and killing teachers who resumed working after they quit the CDM. Military officials blamed a local militia for the deaths of Moe Moe Khaing, a middle school principal, and Kay Zar Khine, her younger sister, who were killed inside their home in Wetlet township, Sagaing region, on Jun. 6. A spokesman for the Wetlet PDF denied the accusation and condemned the attack. Zaw Min Tun said the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and PDF “terrorists” are behind threats to close down schools. “A total of 504 schools were destroyed by terrorists who blew them up with mines in the last academic year, and 37 school teachers were killed,” he said. Naing Htoo Aung, secretary of the shadow National Unity Government’s Defense Ministry, which oversees PDFs across the country, said he had instructed militias not to attack civilian targets. “We have explicitly instructed our forces to target only military personnel,” he said. “We do not condone such killings of civilians [accused of being] dalan [pro-junta informants].” “We don’t accept this kind of killing although we are carrying out a revolution,” he said. “This is not acceptable. It is not in line with international law. We are launching a revolution because we want democracy. We are taking up arms because we have no choice. We cannot be seen by the international community as a terrorist group.” Naing Htoo Aung also said the NUG would act if it had information about the perpetrators of the attacks. Teachers in uniform take part in a Civil Disobedience Movement demonstration against the military regime that overthrew the elected national government, in Dooplaya district, eastern Myanmar’s Kayin state, May 13, 2021. Credit: AFP/KNU Dooplaya District ‘They do not trust us’ Zaw Min Tun told a news conference in Naypyidaw on June 16 that the regime contacted 3,156 teachers to urge them to return to work. Of these, 379 are high school teachers, 1,005 are middle school teachers, and 772 are primary school teachers. The junta pledged that it would take no action against CDM teachers who have been holding spring classes in NUG-dominated areas if they have not committed any crimes. But some who have quit the CDM and have resumed working for the junta are being monitored, said Chi Cho, a high school teacher in Yangon who joined the CDM in April 2021, but decided to come back due to financial difficulties. “Even though we have to go back to work to earn a living, we’ve noticed that the junta has asked the teachers to keep an eye on each other,” she said. “It shows they do not trust us.” Chi Cho added that teachers who return have not yet received their salaries because they had joined the CDM. Other teachers are adamant about remaining involved in the CDM movement because they do not want to work under the military junta. Salai Nwe Oo, a high school teacher in Falam township in western Chin state, said he will not work for the military regime. “From the very beginning, we had decided not to work under this military dictatorship,” he said. “We did not want to be a tool of a dictator. Therefore, from the beginning, we said we would not return to work until we regained power — never under a military junta.” According to the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation, there were almost 450,000 teachers nationwide in the 2020-21 academic year under the NLD government. About 200,000 teachers took part in the CDM, and about 130,000 of them were fired by the junta last year. Only a small percentage of experienced teachers are returning to classrooms in schools, said an official from the Teachers’ Federation who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. Regardless of whether teachers are striking or at work, they face various threats, the person said. “Most employees, whether they are involved in the CDM or not, are facing anxiety, fear and social problems from both sides,” the official said. Sai Khine Myo Tun of the NUG’s Education Ministry said the junta was recalling CDM staff as part of their efforts to reassert control over the country. “They have a big dream to hold elections in 2023 and to form a legitimate government, so they are trying to show that they can provide public services that support the administrative machinery,” he said. “That’s why CDM teachers and other staff are being called back to work. “Teachers and staff fully understand that the junta’s commitment is not to sustain education and develop the country but to establish their governing mechanism,” he said. Students and their parents wait outside the entrance of the No. 3 Basic Education High School in Mingalar Taung Nyunt township, Yangon, Myanmar, June 2, 2022. Credit: RFA ‘These dangerous times’ In the meantime, the NUG has been trying to assist education staff in the CDM who have been threatened with arrest, or have lost…

Vietnam Communist Party head says officials in bribery scandal apologized

Editor3 years ago06 mins

Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Vietnam Communist Party, has said that two senior officials caught in a recent bribery scandal apologized to him for their actions but still needed to be punished as a warning to others, state media reported. Trong, who is also a member of the National Assembly for Hanoi, made the comment in a meeting in the capital Hanoi on Thursday, the reports said. But online critics of the government expressed continued frustration with Vietnam’s leadership for not doing more to root out graft in the government and mismanaging the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trong, 78, has been general secretary of the Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) — the highest position in Vietnam — since 2011, and served as the country’s president from 2018 to 2021. As head of the Politburo, Vietnam’s highest decision-making body, he is the most powerful leader in the country. On June 6, the VCP announced it had expelled Hanoi Mayor Chu Ngoc Anh and Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long from the party following accusations that they were involved in a U.S. $172 million scandal. They were paid by Viet A Technologies Company to provide overpriced coronavirus test kits to hospitals. It is not unusual for senior government officials to apologize to the head of the VCP when they face high-profile corruption charges. Oil executive Trinh Xuan Thanh, who was convicted of embezzling assets from units of Vietnam’s state-owned oil company, and Nguyen Bac Son, a former minister of information and communications imprisoned for accepting a U.S. $3 million bribe, both expressed remorse for their actions. Musician Tuan Khanh from Ho Chi Minh City told RFA that the Trong’s response to the Viet A Technologies scandal has been insufficient. “He merely performed a simple act of expressing anguish and regret when the party members and those in top positions were penalized and dismissed from the party,” he said. “That shows Trong is a figure of the party circle with no vision to lead the nation forward but to nowhere.” Hanoi resident Nguyen Son noted that party leaders never apologize to Vietnamese citizens after they are convicted of wrongdoing. “The fact that so far the governing party has disrespected the common people is not new,” he told RFA. “They are afraid that if they apologize or take responsibility for the wrongdoing, it would mean that their power has been diminished. “They never publicly apologize to the people in the media,” he said. “Such a government cannot be said to be of the people, by the people and for the people. It is a government that grasps all power in its hands, so whether they apology or not, nothing can be done about it.” Lawyer and democracy activist Nguyen Van Dai was even more critical of Trong, who he said should accept more responsibility for the actions of officials in his government. “I cannot imagine why as a human he can lose all sense of decency,” he said. “The fact that he thinks all wrongdoing by the officials under him does not at all relate to him is unacceptable.” Dai said their remains a disconnect between the government and the people because under the one-party communist system leaders do not need to face the voters in open elections. Vietnam ranked in 87th place out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perception Index, with a higher ranking corresponding to a widespread perception of corruption in the public sector. Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

New prison to house criminals from Laos’ Chinese-run special economic zone

Editor3 years ago07 mins

People convicted of crimes in the Chinese-run Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in northern Laos, a hotbed of human trafficking and smuggling, will soon serve their sentences in a new prison built by the zone as a gift to its host province. Lao authorities have complained that they cannot easily enter the zone, which operates largely beyond the reach of Lao laws, creating friction with locals. In a ceremony on June 16, the deputy of the zone’s board of directors, Cheng Yu Feng, gave control of the new facility to Bokeo province’s Department of Public Security. “It will be used within the zone. If there are any criminals [in the SEZ] they will be sent to this prison,” she told RFA’s Lao Service on Friday. An official from the security department, who requested not to be named, told RFA that the prison will be used as soon as the facilities are ready. “As of now, the building is not ready yet, and the relevant authorities are discussing how to transfer prisoners there, and how the security system will work,” the official said. The official was unable to comment on how many prisoners are in the zone or where they are being held. Nearby villagers told RFA that the prison is built about three kilometers (1.86 miles) away from the SEZ in Mouangkham village. “Most of the crimes in the zone, as I have observed, are those cases related to human trafficking,” a villager told RFA. “The criminals include Thai, Burmese and Lao citizens in the casino and some of them work as online scammers who chat with victims on social media platforms.” Most of the victims have been Lao nationals lured by middlemen to perform jobs as scammers trying to convince people to invest or buy shares in the Kings Romans Casino. When they couldn’t meet their sales quotas, they were detained against their will, and in some cases sold off to work in the sex industry. The new prison will replace a much smaller one within the zone, another villager told RFA. “There was a three-room prison before this bigger newly built prison,” the villager said. “The former one was located near the road to Bokeo International airport. The old prison also belongs to the zone.” A lawyer told RFA that the prison must be managed by the Ministry of Public Security under Lao laws. “Any Lao law breaker can only be punished by Lao police and officials,” the lawyer said. Lao citizens and foreigners who work in the SEZ also must be tried under Lao laws, the lawyer said. The Golden Triangle SEZ is run by Zhao Wei, chairman of the Dok Ngiew Kham Group, with Zhao’s firm holding 80 percent interest and the Lao government holding 20 percent. Located where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet, the Golden Triangle area got its name five decades ago for its central role in heroin production and trafficking. In 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department declared Zhao Wei’s business network, centered on Kings Romans Casino, a “transnational criminal organization” and sanctioned Zhao and three other individuals and companies across Laos, Thailand and Hong Kong. Zhao’s business “exploits this region by engaging in drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, bribery and wildlife trafficking, much of which is facilitated through the Kings Romans Casino located within the [Golden Triangle] SEZ,” a Treasury statement said. The State Department’s 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report said Laos had increased its efforts to combat trafficking, but fell short in victim identification and screening procedures, and failed to adequately investigate suspected perpetrators of sex trafficking. According to the information from the SEZ board, the new 900 square-meter prison was built in October 2021. It was originally scheduled to be completed in May. There are 30 rooms within the prison, six of which are offices for prison staff. RFA was not able to determine the prisoner capacity of the facility. The new facility was funded and constructed by a Chinese company with the total cost of around 11.37 billion kip (U.S. $764,000). Translated by Phouvong, Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Jailed Cambodian American activist is allowed to meet with lawyer

Editor3 years ago3 years ago05 mins

A Cambodian American democracy activist jailed in Cambodia on treason charges has been allowed to meet with her lawyer after being transferred last week from the capital to a prison farther north, a move that supporters had feared would isolate her from lawyers and friends, RFA has learned. Now serving a six-year prison term, Theary Seng was sentenced on June 14 together with 50 other activists for their association with the Cambodia National Rescue Party, a group opposing long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen that was banned by Cambodia’s Supreme Court in November 2017. The charges against the activists stem from abortive efforts in 2019 to bring about the return to Cambodia of CNRP leader Sam Rainsy, who has been living in exile in France to avoid convictions in court cases described by his supporters as politically motivated. Theary Seng, who holds citizenship both in Cambodia and the United States, was arrested June 14 while protesting outside the courthouse against the trial that convicted her, and began serving her sentence the same day at Prey Sar Prison in the capital Phnom Penh. Prison authorities later confirmed to RFA that she was then transferred to Preah Vihear Prison in the country’s far north. Blocked by authorities from meeting Theary Seng while she was held in Prey Sar, lawyer Choung Chou Ngy told RFA on Thursday he was recently able to meet his client for about two hours in her new prison, where she said authorities check her health every day. “Around 10 women are being held with her in her cell,” Ngy said. “I told her that people are speaking positively about her on social media, and she said she was grateful for their support. We also discussed details of her case she didn’t know about because of her arrest.” Theary Seng then asked him to file an appeal in her case, which he will submit to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court of Appeal in the next few days, Ngy said. Theary Seng denies the charges of treason made against her, Ngy added. “She said that she has only demanded and fought for respect for human rights and democracy in the interests of society as a whole, and she is being silenced because of her advocacy work.” Also speaking to RFA, Ny Sokha — president of the Cambodian rights group Adhoc — said that Theary Seng should be immediately released. “If the Cambodian government continues to harass and arrest political party activists, this will not look good for Cambodia’s future. More international sanctions will likely be imposed if the situation with human rights is not improved, especially before the next election,” he said. The European Parliament in May adopted a resolution calling on the Cambodian government to stop persecuting and intimidating political opponents, trade unionists, human rights defenders and journalists ahead of local elections in June and national campaigns next year. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party led by Hun Sen is now five years into a no-holds-barred crackdown on its political opposition and civil society, jailing or driving into exile scores of opposition figures. Translated by Sok Ry Sum for RFA Khmer. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Category: ASEAN