An award-winning journalist who exposed cyberscams is arrested

Mech Dara, an award-winning Cambodian journalist who has reported extensively on human trafficking and corruption, has been arrested and charged with incitement.

Dara, who has reported for the BBC, has been charged with five counts of using social media to “inflame public unrest”, a court spokesman said. He faces up to two years in prison.

Last year US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken honored him for his work in exposing cyber scams based in Cambodia.

Human rights organizations have spoken out about his arrest, and Human Rights Watch is urging the country’s government to “release him immediately”.

Dara was arrested after being stopped at a toll booth on a highway on the border of Koh Kong and Sihanouk province in southwestern Cambodia on Monday.

A relative who was in the car with Dara told the BBC that they were waiting to pass the booth when one police car, accompanied by five other cars, pulled up next to them.

“We found him,” someone said when they arrested Dara, his relative said, adding that Dara told his family not to worry as he was being taken away.

Local rights group Licadho reported that Dara sent them a message, explaining that he was under arrest, before his phone was taken.

At that time, his whereabouts were unknown for almost 24 hours, when he appeared in court in the capital Phnom Penh and was charged with incitement to commit a crime. He was remanded in custody ahead of trial and faces six months to two years in prison if convicted.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesperson, Y Rin, told the BBC that the charges related to five social media sites were made in September, but did not elaborate.

In a statement, the court said the post on Facebook showed “edited images” to “attract tourists” which it said were “fake”.

Is said that these posts “are full of bad intentions – they are inciting, creating anger in the public which was intended to make people think badly about the government”.

The vague charge of incitement is often used in Cambodia against government critics.

One of Dara’s relatives, who also works as a journalist but asked that his name be withheld for fear of reprisals, said that Dara has been denied access to a lawyer and they are very worried about his safety.

“The authorities did not show us an arrest warrant or court documents. I have lost hope, I am very worried about doing journalism in Cambodia now,” said the relative.

One of Cambodia’s leading journalists, Mech Dara has been at the forefront of investigating the country’s computers, which are full of trafficked workers.

Often victims are lured by advertisements that promise easy work and lavish benefits. Once in the country, they are arrested and forced to work in online fraud centers. Those who do not comply face threats to their safety. Many have been tortured and brutalized.

Last year, Mr. Blinken awarded Dara the US State Department’s Anti-Trafficking Hero Medal for his work.

The US State Department said it was aware of reports of his arrest and was “following developments with great concern”.

The United States last month sanctioned Cambodian billionaire and ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat, nicknamed the “King of Koh Kong” after his influence in his home province, for alleged links to the cyberscam industry.

The Cambodian government said the sanctions were politically motivated.

Rights groups have expressed concern over Mech Dara’s arrest.

Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said “Mech Dara is a respected journalist who has reported on important topics of public interest such as online fraud centers. However, the Cambodian authorities seem to have wrongfully arrested him yesterday.

“They should release him immediately.”

Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates (AHRLA), called Dara’s arrest “appalling and unacceptable” and “a sign of repression by the Cambodian government, due to its high reaction to any kind of media criticism”.

Cambodia’s independent media sector has been hit hard in recent years, as publications including Cambodia Daily and Voice of Democracy – both of which Dara works for – have been shut down by the authorities.