Press freedom declines: RSF report
Cambodia’s press freedom ranking has fallen four spots compared to last year, to 132 out of 180 countries, according to Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index. The 2017 index, published on April 26, cited the high-profile killing of political commentator Kem Ley as an attempt to gag the media and critics. Ley was gunned down in a Phnom Penh service station last July, days after the release of an explosive Global Witness report mapping out Prime Minister Hun Sen’s family’s web of questionable business ties, a report Ley had commented on in the media. Benjamin Ismaïl, head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, said that increasing attacks against the media, especially in relation to the Global Witness report, had fostered an environment of intimidation and violence that can fuel self-censorship.
