ARTICLE

Cambodian military police struggling to restrain villagers as they attempt to protect Ny San.

On September 30, 2009, more than 30 villagers fought with military police outside Takeo Provincial Court in an attempt to prevent authorities from detaining a community representative from being arrested on groundless disinformation charges.

After several hours of questioning by Takeo Provincial Court Director and Investigating Judge Tith Sothy, Sib Sen and Ny San were charged with disinformation and wrongful damage of property, which stemmed from a 2008 incident where they had removed a fence built by the mosque leaders to cover village land after declaring that it belonged to the community. No reasons were given by court which subsequently released Sib Sen on bail but arrested and detained Ny San.

Five military police officers escorting Ny San from the court house to prison were confronted by the group of villagers and a scuffle ensued as they attempted to stop the police from detaining Ny San. After a tense standoff between the villagers and the military police, the armed officers eventually managed to get Ny San into a waiting car and drove him to prison.

Community representatives Ny San, 57, and Sib Sen, 61, were the first of six people to be questioned by the court. The court summons appeared to be an exercise in intimidation against the ethnic Cham Muslim community, following accusations by the community members that local mosque funds had been mismanaged.

Court Case and Interference
Following Ny San's arrest, on October 1, 2009, Radio Free Asia (RFA) journalist Sok Serey and Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) activists Kim Sarom and Chip Cheav were invited to be questioned by the court. All three were later released however the court ordered the CCHR activists to seek legal representation so they can undergo further questioning - after having refused to answer any questions because they were unrepresented. The CCHR activists have so far secured a private lawyer but as yet no date has been set for further questioning.

On October 7, 2009, Kompong Yol village representatives met with the mosque leaders to negotiate a settlement, however the villagers refused to apologize for their actions in exchange for the mosque leaders withdrawing the complaint. This apology-for-release deal was reportedly proposed by the provincial military police commander La Lai, himself an ethnic Cham who has taken an interest in the ongoing dispute and sided with allegedly corrupt mosque leader.

Ongoing Dispute in Cham Community
In 2007 a petition thumb-printed by 206 families from Kompong Yol village demanded an election to find new local Islamic leaders after they accused the current leader, Ry Math of mismanaging 10 million riels (USD$2,500) worth of donated mosque funds.

In 2008 Ny San and Sib Sen, had given interviews on RFA on the subject after local authorities failed to conduct elections to resolve the ongoing dispute. Because of the interviews, mosque leader Ry Math lodged a complaint with the provincial court on 1 November 2008. His complaint accused the two men together with two RFA journalists, Sok Serey and Tin Zakariya and the two CCHR activists who were involved in the radio interviews of disinformation. Disinformation under the UNTAC criminal code (article 62) carries a prison term of 6 months to 3 years and a fine of 1 million (USD$250) to 10 million riel (USD$2,500).

RFA journalist Tin Zakariya has yet to be questioned by the court and no date has been set for Ny San's trial.

The dispute in Kompong Yol village is a reflection of a growing movement in Cham communities throughout the country who are calling for the right to elect their own local religious leaders. This call has been nearly systematically ignored by government officials.