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UPDATE (Cambodia): Police fail to investigate series of death threats against a journalist

April 16, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Update: AHRC-UAU-022-2008

16 April 2008
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CAMBODIA: Police fail to investigate series of death threats against a journalist

ISSUES: Death threat; police negligence
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a journalist has received renewed threats on his life since January 2008 in Cambodia. He was warned "to be careful" and a number of live assault rifle cartridges were found in the yard. The AHRC has earlier reported series of death threats against him, but the police have failed to conduct any serious investigation.

CASE DETAILS:

On 18 January 2008 at 8am, Lem Pichpisey, known by his on-air pseudonym Lem Piseth, received on his mobile phone a text message in broken English from phone number +855175977523 to warn him "to be careful". The message reads: "It's metter in nations…belong here..Adtention…! Life've…I think 2U I readly story 4 you.. Pleased good luck everytime 4 ur family to..by..by…Adtention.."

Lem then sent a text message back asking who the sender was. He received a message back, again in Broken English, saying that he (the sender) was a high ranking official. The reply message reads: "I'm a high senor U never to know me But this number phone's no me my number phone's 0128…777 know?"

Later on, on February 15 around 3pm, Lem received a text message on his phone from the same phone number (+85517957523) seeking an appointment with him at a Chhaya Hotel in Battambang city. Lem sent a reply but it did not get through. Then at 7pm, he received yet another text message asking where he was: "Where's now". Lem sent a reply saying "At home". At 9pm he received another message asking him to meet the sender at another hotel named Teo Hotel. Lem did not reply or go to the hotel fearing that the sender had set a trap to abduct and kill him as there were no lights from his house along the main road to that hotel.

Early in the morning of 10 April, Lem's daughter, while sweeping the yard of the house, found six live assault rifle cartridges placed by the gate to his house located at Group 8, Wat Kor village, Wat Kor commune, Battambang district. This gate is three and a half meters from his bedroom. It is reported that these cartridges were a clear message that Lem was targeted and could be killed.

Lem immediately called on local human rights activists and journalists to visit the scene and reported the incident to the police.  Several police officers went to examine the scene but failed to conduct any serious investigation.

Lem went to Phnom Penh to get away from the latest threat, but while there, on April 13 before 6pm, a group of some eight men on motorcycle followed his motorcycle along a relatively quiet street, overtook him with loud engine noise and then three to four men riding on the back turned round and threateningly pointed fingers at him. Lem turned to a busier street to evade those men.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Lem Pichpisey is an investigative journalist. He is assigned to cover events in the Northwest of Cambodia, in the Battambang and Banteay Meanchey provinces. Prior to the latest incident he was dispatching news reports covering issues and events which are known to be very sensitive to high ranking officials, judicial officers and rapacious businessmen, exposing their corruption, land grabbing, illicit logging and abuse of power affecting the livelihood of the population. He also began an investigation into a crime following the death of a man in a casino on the Thai-Cambodian border in March.

In 2007 Lem received intimidation and threats on a number of occasions. In November he published a magazine called "Free Press Magazine". The government then accused him of violating the Cambodian Constitution when his magazine contained an article opposing the granting to former King Norodom Sihanouk of immunity from prosecution by the Khmer Rouge tribunal for Sihanouk's connection with the murderous Khmer Rouge. The police then confiscated all copies of his magazine and Lem was summoned for questioning. Lem fled the country after receiving an alarming threat that the government would send agents to hurt him (see further UP-148-2007)

Earlier on, in June, Lem received a death threat through his mobile phone after he had reported on the illegal logging activities and massive deforestation in Kompong Thom province for Radio Free Asia. He then went into hiding on the Thai-Cambodia border (see further UP-088-2007).

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

In Cambodia corruption and illicit practices in public life are rife. Many "people in power" and rapacious businessmen have been involved in grabbing land occupied or owned by ordinary, weak and poor people. Through the use of an official position or money, these land grabbers can secure cooperation from courts and other public authorities to evict people from their homes and lands with no or unfair compensation. Corrupt officials, (especially the high-ranking ones) and powerful and rich land grabbers use different means, (including physical violence and arrest) to prevent or stop any exposure of, or protest against their activities.

Lem Pichpisey's "Free Press Magazine" contained stories which the government considered sensitive. One such story was the murder of a famous actress named Pisith Pilika in 1999, with whom Prime Minister Hun Sen had allegedly had an affair prior to her murder. There have been allegations that Hun Sen's wife was behind this murder. Publications discussing the murder prior to the story in the "Free Press Magazine" had been banned. It is likely that the accusation against Lem of violating the country's constitution was to cover up the ban on the story of this particular murder case.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write your letters to the authorities listed below requesting them to take appropriate action to ensure Lem Pichpisey's safety and security, and to conduct thorough investigation into the repeated threats on his life and bring the alleged perpetrators to justice.

Please be informed that the AHRC has written separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteru on Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of human rights in Cambodia and OHCHR in Cambodia calling for interventions in this case.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ___________,

CAMBODIA: Police fail to investigate series of death threats against a journalist

Name of victim: Lem Pichpisey (known by his on-air pseudonym Lem Piseth), aged 39, living in Group 8, Wat Kor village, Wat Kor commune, Battambang district, Battambang province
Name of alleged perpetrators: Unknown
Date of incident: since January 2008

I am writing to express my deep concern relating to renewed death threats which a reporter for Radio Free Asia named Lem Pichpisey (known for his on-air pseudonym Lem Piseth) has received recently. In January he received text messages from an unknown sender to his phone warning him "to be careful". In February he again received text messages from the same unknown sender wanting to meet with him at night. He neither replied to the request nor went to the rendezvous place, fearing that he might be abducted and killed. More recently, on April 10, he received a message in the form of six live assault rifle cartridges placed in the front yard of his house in Battambang city.

It is very likely that all these threats were linked to his successive reports for Radio Free Asia exposing corruption, land grabbing, illicit logging and abuse of power involving high ranking officials, army officers, judicial officers and rapacious businessmen in the Northwest of Cambodia. These people may have links with people higher up in the government.

Lem had already received intimidation and threats on at least two occasions in 2007, and each time he had to go into hiding for security reasons. In November he was very much intimidated after the government accused him of violating the constitution and confiscated all copies of his magazine called "Free Press Magazine", (which contained an allegedly unconstitutional article) and then summoned him for questioning. In June, Lem received a death threat in the form of a text message on his mobile phone after he had reported on the illegal logging activities and massive deforestation in Kompong Thom province for Radio Free Asia.

All the intimidation and threats Lem has received very much violates his constitutional right to life and security, and as such, the state has an obligation to protect this right.

I therefore strongly urge you to take appropriate measures to ensure first and foremost Lem Pichpisey's safety and security so that he will have all the freedom to do his work as a journalist without any risk to his life. I also urge you to conduct thorough investigation into these repeated threats and bring those who were behind them to justice.

I trust you will heed my request above.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Hun Sen
Prime Minister
Cabinet of the Prime Minister
No. 38, Russian Federation Street
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 36 0666
Tel: +855 2321 9898
E-mail: cabinet1b@camnet.com.kh 

2. Mr. Sar Kheng
Deputy-Prime Minister
Minister of Interior
No.275 Norodom Blvd.
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax/phone: +855 23 721 905 / 23 726 052 / 23 721 190
E-Mail: info@interior.gov.kh 

3. Mr. Ang Vong Vathna
Minster of Justice
No 240, Sothearos Blvd.
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 36 4119 / 21 6622
E-mail: moj@cambodia.gov.kh 

4. Mr. Henro Raken
Prosecutor-General
Court of Appeal
No 240, Sothearos Blvd.
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
E-mail: moj@cambodia.gov.kh
Fax: +855 23 21 66 22
Tel: +855 11 86 27 70

5. General Hok Lundy
National Police Commissioner
General-Commissariat of National Police
No.275 Norodom Blvd.
Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA
Fax: +855 23 22 09 52
Tel: +855 23 21 65 85
E-Mail: info@interior.gov.kh 

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
AHRC-UAU-022-2008
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.