Posts Tagged ‘cambodia’
39 years later Khmer Rouge leaders found guilty of genocide
Justice delayed is not justice denied. In Cambodia, former Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea, 92, and Khieu Samphan, 87, have been handed life sentences for their roles in the murder of – get this – up to 30% of Cambodian population; 2.8 million people. Nuon Chea, 92, was Pol Pot’s number 2. Samphan, 87, was head of state. Pol Pot – ‘Brother Number One’ – ran ‘Democratic Kampuchea’ from 1975 to 1979. He and his supporters turned Cambodia into a “land of blood and tears”, where the State organised murder, rape, forced marriage and torture in the pursuit of an agrarian paradise.
Now two of the swine are in the dock. You see their ages and wonder. Should we bother to try them, these old men? Yes. Never give up. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), established in 2006 with both Cambodian and international judges, has cost $300m. It has convicted three people:
In 2010 it convicted Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who was in charge of the infamous Tuol Sleng torture centre and prison in Phnom Penh. He is serving a life sentence.
Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary was a co-defendant with Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea but died before judges delivered a verdict in the first of the two sub-trials in 2014. His wife Ieng Thirith, the regime’s social affairs minister and the fourth co-defendant, was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial and died in 2015.
Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphany enjoyed long and healthy lives. They looked blessed. But now see the butchers brought to their reckoning. That they lived long enough to face the music is our blessing. But why did it take so long to get them? And why not go for all the killers, not just the men and women at the top?
This was not the pair’s first trial. They are serving separate life sentences following earlier convictions for crimes against humanity. So many escaped justice. But these two got it twice. Does that strike anyone as lazy – and convenient?
The former UN secretary general’s special expert on assistance to the Khmer Rouge trials and former US ambassador at large for war crimes, David Scheffer, tells The Guardian that these latest verdicts are “comparable, in Cambodia, to the Nuremberg judgment after World War Two”.
After the Second World War, we were given the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – but nothing to give it bite. The Declaration told people and nations to keep human rights “constantly in mind”. Or what? How did the the killers get away with it for so long?
In September 1979, the UN voted to retain Khmer Rouge representation in the General Assembly, a post the Khmer Rouge occupied until 1991…
The United States – whose intensive bombing of areas with communist bases during 1969-73 arguably did much to bring Pol Pot to power – pursued a ‘hands-off’ policy, turning a blind eye to China’s continuing support of the Khmer Rouge and the shady activities of the Thai military, which gave its protection to Khmer Rouge top-brass throughout the 1980s and 1990s
For anyone interested in what crimes against humanity means, The Rise and Rise of Human Rights by Kirsten Sellars is really good.
Photo: Images of the Ba Chúc massacre at a Vietnamese museum as the massacre was one of the events that prompted the 1978 Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea
British tourist jailed for Facebook ‘sex’ party
Daniel Jones has been on remand in a Cambodia prison for one month and 22 days. Today he received his sentence for using “pornographic” images to advertise a pool party: he will serve a one-year suspended prison sentence. That’s the maximum sentence.
A Cambodian police handout picture features people appearing to imitate lustful acts at a party. The accused claim the photo is years old and does not feature them.
Jones, 31, was one of 10 non-Cambodian nationals nicked during a police raid on a pool party and drinks do in Siem Reap on 25 January. The event was trailed on Facebook as “Let’s Get Wet”. Jones says the promotion featured no nudity – and given Facebook’s often arcane ‘Community Guidelines’, that’s easy to believe. Facebook can block users for all manner of ills, not least of all posting a drawing of a human hand. But Cambodian prosecutors said the photos were illegal and damaging to Cambodian culture.
Judge Um Chan Thol ruled that Jones had “unintentionally produced pornography that affects Khmer culture”. The other nine accused of offending Cambodian morals also denied any wrongdoing. They were deported after charges against them were dropped.
Cambodia is now made pure. Incidentally, this is what Human Rights Watch says of the place:
Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander, has been in power since 1985. His rule has relied on security force violence and politically motivated persecution of opposition members, activists, and human rights workers. Security forces commit killings and torture with impunity. Authorities regularly restrict the right to peaceful assembly by suppressing protests and banning nonviolent gatherings and processions. The politically powerful have carried out forced evictions and illegal land grabs for decades. Government officials and judges are mired in corruption. Garment industry workers, primarily women, are subject to sexual discrimination and other rights abuses.
But that’s alright. It’s that Facebook photo that really causes problems.
Message to holidaymakers: if you really want to get wet on holiday, try Blackpool in April.
Hog roasts instill ideas of massacre
Posted: 29th, February 2012 | In: The Consumer | Comment
Toddler Suckles Milk From Wet Nursing Cow: Photos And Video
THA Sopht is 20-months old. He drinks milk from a cow’s teat.
When Tha Sopht’s parents moved from Siem Reap province in north west Cambodia to Thailand in search of work Tha was left behind to live with his grandfather Um Oeung. At some point the boy saw a calf suckle from a cow. So. He did the same.
Posted: 11th, September 2011 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Divorcing Couple Saw House In Two
ALL very amicable and grown up in Cambodia divorce settlement:
A COUPLE in Prey Veng province has simplified the messy legal task of divorce by literally sawing their house in two, according to local officials.
Who gets the saw? Can you saw a saw in half?
The house, situated in Cheach commune, Kamchay Mea district, was divided into two parts on Thursday after the couple who owned the property decided to separate following an argument.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 9th, October 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (7)
