Where this was said
Mek Darah: The Journalist Who Wouldn't Stop
At 16:48 · chapter starts 12:35
Few people know Cambodia's scam industry as deeply as Mek Darah. Where other journalists would stop at interviewing escapees, Darah always pushed further, mapping out ownership chains that led directly to tycoons close to the ruling Hun family. Independent reporting, including from The New York Times, confirmed that these powerful figures directly profited from the scam industry — and that even the prime minister's cousin had a stake in a scam-linked entity. In 2023, the Cambodian government began repressing civil society voices, eventually forcing Darah's outlet, the Voice of Democracy, to shut down. Then, weeks after Shibani Mahtani met him on her 2024 Cambodia trip, Darah was arrested — three or four military police cars, a charge of inciting social disorder — and spent a month in prison without even a spoon to eat his food. When he was released, he told people his spirit had been broken. For a while, he disappeared from bylines. But as Cambodia's crackdown on scam compounds created a new, overwhelming humanitarian need in front of him, Darah found he simply could not look away.
Independent reporting from The New York Times found that Cambodia's ruling class of tycoons directly profited from the scam industry — and even the prime minister's cousin had a stake in a scam-linked entity. Cambodia is a single-party state where political power is sustained by these relationships.
Freelance journalist Mek Darah was jailed for a month by the Cambodian government after a social media post, charged with inciting social disorder. Released with a broken spirit, he eventually returned to reporting — now still required to check in with police monthly while doing the same work that got him arrested.
Freelance journalist Mek Darah was arrested and held in prison for a month, ostensibly for a social media post critical of the Cambodian government.
