Pheap Phara was arrested on July 31, 2025, after returning from reporting on a Cambodia-Thailand border dispute in Oddar Meanchey province, according to news reports.
Phara, a reporter with the local TSP 68 TV Online, faces treason charges under Section 445 of the criminal code for “delivering information to foreign states as a crime to endanger national defense,” the local rights group LICADHO said in a statement.
Convictions under the anti-state provision carry prison sentences of between seven and 15 years. Phon Sopheap, a journalist with the local Battambang Post TV Online, was arrested separately on the same day on the same charge.
Phara was being held in pre-trial detention at Siem Reap Provincial Prison in September 2025, according to CamboJA, a local press group, and a LICADHO representative in touch with the journalist’s family who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals.
A statement from the prosecutor’s office released on September 10 and cited in news reports said the journalists entered a restricted battlefield area to collect information and take photographs.
Cambodia and Thailand engaged in several days of armed hostilities in late July over contested border areas, killing at least 43 people on both sides. A fragile cease-fire holds as of September 2025.
The Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on Phara’s arrest, legal status, and detention conditions.