Former President of Cambodia’s largest opposition party, Sam Rainsy, who used to receive 55 seats out of the 123 parliament seats, has now been living in exile since 2015 and has been criticized among the Cambodian supporters.
Meanwhile a photo showing a former leader of CNRP, Sam Rainsy, has been arrested by the police authority was posted recently on Facebook. This photo may be believed to be real as it was reacted with mixed comments and shared by the Facebook users speaking Khmer. However, after running a Google Reverse Search, it proves that the photo above posted was altered.
This is about our investigation of this photo.
Social Media Claim
On December 08, 2021, one of the Facebook users posted a photo which shows the scene of Sam Rainsy, the former leader of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (aka CNRP) was arrested and taken away by a police officer. The same user did not specify the location and the reason for this arrest at all. The following screenshot was captured from the Facebook user’s post which translates in English as “under the same sky, different destinies”.
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia had started to check and verify this photo directly by running a Google Reverse Image search, which brought us to the sources containing the following photos.
A photo of the exact same form and shape was found and published by VOD news website on August 20, 2019. This website does not show Sam Rainsy was arrested and taken by the local police at all, but instead it shows the scene of Nuth Pech, a former executive vice president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in Chhouk district, has been arrested from the rice field in Boeung Nimol commune, Chhuk district, Kampot province, on August 17, 2019.
Below is an additional screenshot image from the VOD news website showing the scene of Nuth Pech being taken by Kampot provincial police.
VOD News Report | Archived Link
Similarly,according to the RFA website broadcasted on August 22, 2019 also revealed the scene of the arrest of Mr. Nut Pech by the Kampot provincial police as well. The following screenshot was captured from RFA (Radio Free Asia) with the headline in Khmer and translates in English as “Mu Sochua asks UN to help bring justice to the arbitrary and inhumane arrest of Nuth Pech”.
RFA Khmer News Report | Archived Link
The case of this arrest was also posted and published on Youtube as well on August 19, 2019. Below is a screenshot captured from the website showing the scene of Nuth Pech being arrested in Kampot province’s Chhouk district.
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You may find the details of this fact-check in Khmer language here as well.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia has found that the photo posted and claimed by the above user was altered. This photo had been edited before it was posted on social media. The original of this photo actually shows Nuth Pech, a former executive vice president of the CNRP in Chhouk district, was arrested from a rice field in Boeung Nimol commune, Chhuk district, Kampot province, on August 17, 2019.
