Local S.A. TVHD Online’s Akhara and Cambodia Star Daily News 24/24’s Socheat were detained on January 21 after their outlets shared the video that was allegedly filmed at a cyberscam compound in the capital Phnom Penh, according to news reports and local rights group Licadho. 

Phnom Penh police issued a statement accusing the journalists of spreading false information that caused social chaos, jeopardized national security, and affected the dignity of national leaders. Both have apologized for publishing the video, according to S.A. TVHD Online, which posted copies of their apology letters to Prime Minister Hun Manet on its Facebook page.

“Cambodian authorities must drop the incitement charges against journalists Duong Akhara and Lay Socheat and free them immediately,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Journalists should never be imprisoned for merely doing their jobs of reporting the news.”

The journalists face charges of incitement to commit a felony under Article 495 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison, a Licadho representative told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. The journalists are being detained at Phnom Penh’s Correctional Center 1 prison, the Licadho source said.

Journalists who have reported on Cambodia’s criminal cyberscam centers — where workers are often trafficked, held by force, and forced to defraud their online victims — have faced threats and reprisals, according to news reports and CPJ reporting.

Neither news outlet immediately replied to CPJ’s emailed request for comment. Cambodia’s Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.  

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Vietnam’s harsh sentencing of blogger Duong Van Thai is grotesque and an outrage, particularly amid allegations he was kidnapped in Thailand and forcibly sent back to Vietnam for wrongful prosecution,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The real criminal in this instance is the Vietnamese state. Thai should be released immediately and allowed to leave Vietnam.” 

Thai was convicted October 30 in a one-day, closed-door trial at the Hanoi People’s Court, of “making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents, and items aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s penal code, according to multiple reports.

In 2019, Thai fled to Thailand, fearing persecution for his journalism, and was given refugee status by the United Nations refugee agency’s office in Bangkok. He was interviewing for third-country resettlement at the time of his apparent abduction and deportation to Vietnam, according to multiple reports.

Thai posts political commentary, critical of government policies and leaders, to his around 119,000 followers on his Tin Tuc 24H YouTube channel, which has been disabled. He previously ran the Servant’s Tent online news platform, which reported critically on the ruling Communist Party and its top members, and is a member of the banned Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam.

CPJ’s email to Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security about Thai’s conviction did not immediately receive a response. Vietnam was the world’s fifth-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 19 reporters behind bars on December 1, 2023, at the time of CPJ’s latest prison census. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

On April 13, Thai, an independent journalist who posts political commentary on YouTube and has about 119,000 followers, went missing in Bangkok, Thailand, according to multiple news reports.

He had lived in Thailand as a refugee since 2020 and visited the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ office hours before his disappearance, according to those reports and Nguyen Van Hai, a colleague familiar with Thai’s situation and CPJ’s 2013 International Press Freedom Award winner, who communicated with CPJ via email.

On April 16, Vietnamese state media reported that Thai had been arrested while allegedly trying to enter Vietnam and was being held by police in the Huong Son district of central Ha Tinh province.

“Vietnamese authorities must immediately release journalist Duong Van Thai and disclose the exact details of his detention,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnam has a history of targeting journalists living in exile. Thai authorities should thoroughly and transparently investigate the circumstances of his disappearance in Bangkok, and ensure that members of the press are not targeted for their work.”

Those Vietnamese state media reports alleged that Thai was arrested while attempting to illegally enter Vietnam on April 14. CPJ called and emailed Thai after his arrest was announced but did not receive any replies.

On his YouTube channel, Thai recently aired commentary critical of Vietnam’s industrial policy, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and the country’s finance minister.

In 2019, Vietnamese blogger Truong Duy Nhat was abducted in Thailand; he resurfaced in Vietnam days later and was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison. Two of Nhat’s associates, who spoke with CPJ on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal, said they suspected that he was abducted by Vietnamese agents working in cooperation with Thai authorities. Nhat was seeking refugee status in Thailand at the time of his disappearance.

CPJ emailed Thailand’s Immigration Police and Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security for comment on Thai’s status but did not immediately receive any replies.

Vietnam was one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists, with at least 21 behind bars, when CPJ conducted its annual prison census on December 1, 2022.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

“CPJ is deeply saddened by reports of imprisoned Vietnamese journalist Do Cong Duong’s death from an underlying illness,” said Shawn W. Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnam must launch a thorough and independent investigation into Duong’s death and bring any prison authorities found to have deliberately withheld medicines or timely treatments from Duong to full justice. His death tragically underscores why Vietnam must stop jailing journalists.”   

Duong was healthy before his arrest but contracted multiple diseases while in prison, and authorities declined timely access to medical treatment, despite repeated requests from family, according to news reports. The journalist’s cause of death has not been released. 

Duong was serving an eight-year sentence on charges of “disturbing public order” and “abusing democratic freedoms” in the Nghe An province Detention Center No. 6, according to a post by The 88 Project, an advocacy group that monitors the status of Vietnamese political prisoners.

He was detained on January 24, 2018, while filming and photographing state authorities evicting residents at the Tu Son commune in Bac Ninh province, according to news reports. Duong covered land rights and corruption on his “Tieng Dan TV” program, where he live-streamed video discussions on Facebook, according to The 88 Project.

CPJ emailed the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security for comment on Duong’s death but did not receive any replies. CPJ was unable to find contact information for his family members.

Vietnam was the world’s fourth worst jailer of journalists, with at least 23 members of the press, including Duong, behind bars for their work at the time of CPJ’s 2021 prison census.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.