Cambodian journalist Hem Vanna arrested after cyberscam report

Bangkok, February 6, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Cambodian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release journalist Hem Vanna, who was arrested after publishing a report about a suspected cyberscam compound.

On February 3, Vanna, a journalist with the local independent HVNN TV Online, was summoned by military police in the western border town of Poipet and transferred to a military police station in Banteay Meanchey province, where he was arrested, according to the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association and statements from local rights groups.

Vanna was charged under Articles 301 and 495 of the penal code, which criminalize intercepting or recording private conversations and incitement, respectively, the sources said. If convicted on both charges, he faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

 “Hem Vanna’s arrest is a clear act of retaliation for reporting on Cambodia’s cyberscam industry,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s Senior Southeast Asia representative. “Journalism is not a crime, but cyberscamming is. Authorities must stop using vague criminal laws to silence critical reporting on an issue of national and global importance.”

Vanna was arrested after publishing a video report on January 30 about the alleged physical assault of Chinese nationals at a suspected scam compound in Poipet located approximately 100 meters behind the local military police station, the sources said.

Journalists who have reported on Cambodia’s politically sensitive criminal cyberscam centers — where workers are often trafficked, held by force, and forced to defraud their online victims — have faced threats and reprisals.

In January 2025, Cambodian reporters Duong Akhara and Lay Socheat were arrested and charged with criminal incitement for sharing a video allegedly showing a man being tortured in a cyberscam center in the capital, Phnom Penh. Both reporters are being held in pre-trial detention.

The Ministry of Information did not immediately reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment. Cambodia is one Asia’s worst jailers of journalists, with four currently behind bars, according to CPJ research.