Cambodia court upholds 14-years jail for journalists over border photo

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A Cambodian court upheld 14-year prison sentences on Thursday for two journalists convicted of treason for posting a photo taken in a military-restricted area after a round of border clashes with Thailand, a rights group said.

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Journalists Pheap Phara and Phorn Sopheap were arrested in late July after posting a photo on Facebook that appeared to show them with Cambodian soldiers at the centuries-old Ta Krabei temple, located on the disputed frontier with Thailand, according to local rights group LICADHO.

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Thai media outlets later republished the image, alleging it showed unplaced landmines in the background, the group said in a statement.

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The Southeast Asian nations’ decades-long border dispute erupted into several rounds of clashes last year, killing dozens of people and displacing more than a million people in July and December.

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Thailand has repeatedly accused Cambodia of planting new landmines in contested border areas that have wounded patrolling Thai soldiers, while Cambodia has denied the allegation.

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The two journalists were convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison in December for “supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defence”.

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An appeal court in Battambang province upheld their convictions on Thursday following an appeal by the journalists, LICADHO said.

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Their lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment.

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“This case affects journalism, especially the space of free press that will make journalists worry about their safety because of these convictions,” Am Sam Ath, operations director of LICADHO, told AFP.

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Cambodia ranks 161st out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders advocacy group’s World Press Freedom Index.

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Information ministry spokesman Tep Asnarith said the case was “a lesson for journalists to carefully think about publishing news and the protection of national security, and to uphold national interests”.

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“Freedom of the press must go hand in hand with responsibility before the law and the national interest,” he said in a statement.

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Cambodia and Thailand signed a ceasefire agreement in late December, but tensions on the border remain, with both sides trading accusations of truce violations.

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AFP

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