AFP – A high-profile Cambodian reporter who won an international award for uncovering alleged cyber scams told AFP yesterday that he is quitting journalism, saying he has lost “courage” after being arrested by the authorities and freed on bail.
Police arrested Mech Dara on September 30 on charges of inciting social disorder, drawing condemnation from around the world.
He was released on bail three weeks later after apologising to Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen and his son Prime Minister Hun Manet in a video shot while he was in prison. “I have decided that I am retiring from journalism because of the arrest, the questioning and imprisonment,” Dara told AFP.
“I am still afraid.”
Dara said he was questioned all night after his arrest, and police threatened to hit him and deny him food and water unless he cooperated.
“I have lost my courage. It has attacked my spirit, and I have no more courage,” Dara said, referring to the arrest and time he spent in prison.
“The questioning and then being in the prison, it really, really crushed my soul – the soul that is always with me, no matter what is happening, I continue to report. But that spirit or soul is not with me any more.” He also urged the court to drop the charges against him.
Hun Manet on Monday posted pictures of him meeting Dara, including one showing the pair embracing one another.
Dara said he informed Hun Manet of his decision to quit journalism during the meeting, which took place a day after his release.
Police detained Dara, 36, after stopping a car carrying him and his family from Sihanoukville, a coastal city where many suspected cyber scam operations take place. His reporting over 10 years has appeared in various international news outlets and he worked for the independent Voice of Democracy in Cambodia before the authorities shut it down in February 2023.
Dara has since used his social media platforms to share news content, particularly around the proliferation of “scam farms” – criminal operations that defraud victims online for vast sums of money and fuel human trafficking across the region.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken last year presented Dara with a Hero Award, which recognises efforts against human trafficking, for investigations into exploitation at the online scam compounds.
