Malaysia deports maid for criticising Cambodian government on social media
The Malaysian government led by Anwar Ibrahim (left) deported the maid after she criticised the government of Hun Manet (right).
In short:
Nuon Toeun, a Cambodian maid working in Malaysia, has been deported to Cambodia and sent to pre-trial detention.
She made Facebook posts criticising Cambodia's government, including calling former prime minister Hun Sen "despicable".
What's next?
Nuon Toeun faces up to five years in prison and a fine.
A Cambodian woman working as a domestic worker in Malaysia has been deported to her homeland and subsequently arrested over comments she posted on social media criticising Cambodian government leaders.
A Cambodia prison official and an opposition activist group said Nuon Toeun, 36, who had worked in Malaysia for several years, was arrested last week by Malaysian authorities following a request from the Cambodian government.
The deportation comes as one of Cambodia's most high-profile journalists, Mech Dara, was arrested and charged in Cambodia this week.
He faces up to two years in prison for allegedly "inciting social unrest".
The arrest has been criticised by human rights organisations and journalists' associations and elicited statements of concern from foreign governments including the United States and Australia.
Human rights groups have criticised several South-East Asian governments for helping each other harass, detain and deport political dissidents in exile.
Human Rights Watch has urged the Thai government to stop forcing political dissidents to return to their authoritarian home countries, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and China, where they might face torture, persecution or death.
Freedom House, a US-based organisation that promotes democracy, says the practice of attacking or sending back exiled dissidents "is becoming a 'normal' phenomenon as more governments around the world use it to silence dissent".
Mr Ibrahim with former Cambodian former counterpart Hun Sen, who the Cambodian domestic worker called a "despicable guy" on Facebook.
Domestic worker faces five years in prison
Nuon Toeun was detained at Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh upon her arrival in Cambodia from Malaysia last Tuesday, a spokesperson for Cambodia's prison department said.
She was charged with incitement to commit a felony or cause social disorder and incitement to discriminate on the basis of race religion or nationality, he said.
If convicted on both charges, she could face up to five years in prison and a fine.
Nuon Toeun is neither an opposition leader nor a well-known activist.
However, Cambodia's government has expressed concern recently about overseas critics rallying support among Cambodian expatriates.
Radio Free Asia, a US government-funded news service that reports extensively on Cambodia, said Nuon Toeun often used social media to criticise Cambodia's leadership, including Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father Hun Sen, the former prime minister who is now the Senate president, over their handling of social issues.
Long-serving former prime minister Hun Sen (left) poses with his son Hun Manet in 2009.
Cambodia's government under the governing Cambodia People's Party has long been accused of silencing critics and political opponents.
Radio Free Asia said Nuon Toeun was a supporter of the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party, which was dissolved ahead of the 2018 general election as part of a crackdown on the opposition.
The Cambodian People's Party subsequently won every seat in the National Assembly.
A few days before her arrest, Nuon Toeun posted a video on Facebook in which she said she was "expressing rage on behalf of the people living inside Cambodia", Radio Free Asia reported.
"If I have sinned because I [have cursed] this despicable guy, I am happy to accept the sin because he has mistreated my people so badly," she said, in a reference to Hun Sen.
The Khmer Movement for Democracy, a movement formed by opposition leaders in exile, condemned Nuon Toeun's deportation from Malaysia.
It said in a statement that she was working legally in Malaysia and had committed no crime except expressing her opinions.
It said her deportation without due process was a "blatant violation of international law and a grave assault on human rights".
Investigative journalist faces jail in Cambodia
Meanwhile a court in Cambodia on Tuesday charged Dara, an investigative reporter known for exposing corruption and human trafficking, on charges that could see him jailed for two years.
A statement from Australia's ambassador to Cambodia, Derek Yip, said the government was "deeply concerned" by his arrest.
"All Cambodians should be able to exercise their right to freedom of expression without the fear of arrest and prosecution," the statement said.
The US embassy in Phnom Penh said it was "deeply troubled" by Dara's arrest and called for his release.
It called Dara an "internationally respected journalist," citing the 2023 award and his work advocating for freedom of expression in Cambodia.
Dara was given a hero award last year by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, recognising his work exposing the existence of massive scam compounds staffed mostly by trafficked workers in Cambodia.
Cambodian authorities said the journalist, who has worked for local and international media, had posted "provocative" and "false" messages and pictures about a rock quarry on a sacred mountain.
He was sent to pre-trial detention in Kandal province on Tuesday, according to a joint statement by civil society organisations working in the country, who said the charges carry a maximum prison sentence of two years.
Cambodian freelance journalist Mech Dara was arrested on Monday while driving with his family to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
He was arrested a day earlier by military police who stopped his car at a highway toll booth on the border of Koh Kong and Sihanouk provinces in the south-west of the country, the statement said.
Prior to his detention, local officials issued a statement on Facebook accusing Dara of wanting to "cause social disorder or confusion" through an image he posted showing quarrying at Ba Phnom in Prey Veng province, an important religious and historical site, the groups said.
"Dara must be freed so he can continue his work to shed light on issues like human trafficking, forced labour and corruption," said the co-director of one of the signatories, Licadho's Naly Pilorge.
"Arresting one of Cambodia's bravest journalists will have a devastating effect on access to information for all Cambodians."
South-East Asia has in recent years emerged as the epicentre of a multi-billion-dollar criminal industry targeting victims globally with fraudulent crypto and other schemes, often operating from fortified compounds run by Chinese syndicates and staffed by trafficked workers.
Washington last month sanctioned Cambodian tycoon and ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat, nicknamed the "king of Koh Kong" after his influence over his home province, over alleged connections to the industry.
The senator has expressed regret over the US measures, which Cambodia's government said were politically motivated.
Cambodia once had a flourishing local media scene but has sunk close to the bottom of global press freedom indexes in recent years as authorities have shuttered the remaining independent outlets, several of which Dara worked for.
At the time, the journalist, who had worked his way up from handling archives to breaking big news, told BBC News every newsroom he had worked in had been silenced.
Cambodia's government has maintained it does not stifle free speech but will punish those who break laws.
ABC/wires
By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-04/malaysia-deports-cambodian-maid-for-criticising-cambodia-leaders/104432686(责任编辑：admin)
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