BANGKOK — Ouk Mao, a Cambodian environmental journalist, was reporting on the continued logging of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary when he was attacked on March 24 by a group of men he identified, including a former police officer.
Mao, who has previously helped Mongabay to expose the destruction of a community forest in Stung Treng province, had been working for a local online news outlet and was traveling into the beleaguered wildlife sanctuary with a colleague to follow up on a tip. According to Mao’s sources, loggers were clearing a patch of protected forest with an excavator — the common precursor to a land grab.
Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary is a lowland rainforest spanning roughly 490,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) and straddling four provinces, including Stung Treng, in central Cambodia. Despite its protected status, Prey Lang has long been targeted by illegal timber traders, mining companies and poachers, with officials tasked with protecting the forest often accused of being complicit in its destruction.
Mao and his colleague were able to locate the excavator, taking photos and videos, while also documenting the trail of deforestation that had been left in its wake.
At around 2 p.m. on March 24, as the group was leaving Prey Lang, with Mao and his colleague heading back to their homes in Stung Treng province, they were stopped by four men.
“They demanded we delete our footage and photos,” Mao said.
Mao and the community activists were able to document parts of their confrontation, posting it to his outlet’s Facebook account, where it has since been viewed more than 41,000 times.
“They tried to grab our phones, even when we were filming them,” Mao recalled. “They hit me at least five times.”
Part of the attack was captured on video and two of the attackers’ faces can be seen clearly. Mao said that local residents identified one assailant as a former police officer and another as the former police officer’s brother.
After managing to get away, Mao and his colleague reported the incident to the police in Stung Treng province. However, when he filed the complaint, the police wanted his phone, which had been damaged during the confrontation, as evidence.
When he refused, police demanded he delete the video that he’d posted online, but Mao refused.
Men Kong, spokesperson for the Stung Treng provincial administration, told Mongabay in a phone interview that, “In the case of seizing the phone from Ouk Mao, [it was] because he didn’t follow the instructions from the police.”
Kong said that there are two sides to the story and that judicial police are currently investigating Mao, who Kong claims has broken the law before. Kong did not provide any evidence of Mao’s alleged lawbreaking. When asked about the physical attack on Mao and others on March 24, Kong said that police are still investigating.
“The police have many cases to evaluate, sometimes it is related to personal issues, but I can confirm we are investigating,” he said.
When reporters pointed out that the charges of clearing state-owned forest that have been leveled against Mao mirrored a similar situation for Kim Den, another environmental journalist who reported on a large-scale logging operation in Stung Treng province, only to receive a five-year prison sentence for allegedly clearing forest himself, Kong dismissed the idea.
“So far there is no journalist or environmental activist have been arrested in Stung Treng,” he said. “There are only people who violate the law.”
Physical attack follows legal threats
The physical attacks are just the latest in a long litany of repercussions Mao has faced for reporting on environmental issues in Cambodia.
On March 14, Mao was hit with charges of defamation and incitement, which collectively could see the journalist jailed for between six months and two years, as well as being fined up to 10 million riel (roughly $2,500).
But these latest developments are on top of earlier charges that were brought against Mao in August 2024, when he was accused by the Stung Treng Provincial Court of illegally clearing state-owned forest and another case of incitement, carrying jail sentences of 10 and two years respectively, as well as fines totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
Mao has consistently denied the charges and alleges that local officials are trying to silence him for his continued reporting on environmental crimes in Stung Treng province.
On Sept. 17, 2024, the Stung Treng Provincial Court placed Mao under indefinite judicial supervision pending an investigation into the charges of illegally clearing state-owned forest. That means authorities are monitoring his whereabouts and he must report to them if he plans to leave his commune.
But Mao’s problems aren’t confined to the Cambodian courts. In January 2025, he received a phone call from an unknown number. He was used to this. Since reporting on the logging associated with powerful mining company Lin Vatey, Mao said he’s received lots of anonymous calls threatening him and his family.
This time, the caller threatened to burn down Mao’s home.
Taken aback by the specifics of the threat, Mao reported the call to the police, but says he has received no follow-up since.
In late January, Mao gave an interview to Radio Free Asia, alleging that corruption among Ministry of Environment rangers was a key reason for the continued deforestation documented in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Ministry of Environment took to Facebook on Feb. 2 demanding an apology from Mao within 48 hours. If he didn’t, the ministry promised to take legal action against him for his comments.
But Mao refused to apologize, saying that he had not lied about corruption and that the ministry had upended his life over the last year, tying him up in lawsuits that restricted his movements and freedoms.
“Since I publicly accused the ministry’s rangers of corruption, the Ministry of Environment has intervened, but it’s just a play,” he told Mongabay.
Neither Environment Minister Eang Sophalleth nor Khvay Atitya, the ministry’s spokesperson, responded to questions sent by Mongabay.
As the pressure mounted, Mao’s wife and children moved out from their family home for fear of potentially violent retribution. Trips to and from the courts have placed financial strain on top of the legal and physical threats.
Over February and March, Mao has been summoned to answer questions on multiple charges across different courts, but no verdict has been issued on any of his cases.
He appeared in court again on May 7, where prosecutors accused Mao of being “an agent of Radio Free Asia” — a charge Mao strenuously denied. The U.S. government-funded outlet’s Khmer service has long been a thorn in the side of the ruling party, despite being forced to close its bureau in September 2017 and its reporters being labeled “spies” by government officials.
Mao departed his home at 3:30 a.m. to reach the Stung Treng Provincial Court for his 8:30 a.m. hearing, but no verdict was issued on any of the charges the journalist currently faces and no date was set for future hearings.
Violence and silence reign in Cambodia
The sheer volume of attacks, both physical and legal, that Mao has faced for his work as a journalist has taken place against a backdrop of a sharp decline in press freedoms in Cambodia, where numerous outlets and journalists critical of the ruling party have been shut down and jailed or exiled.
“Cambodia’s assault on journalists who cover the environment has reached crisis proportions,” said Shawn Crispin, senior Southeast Asia representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists. “The very reporters who expose illegal deforestation and environmental crimes are insanely the ones being treated as criminals themselves.”
Crispin added that the “unconscionable harassment” of Mao “shows just how farcical Cambodia’s press freedom situation has become. Ouk Mao should be held up as a champion of the environment, not treated like a criminal.”
For Nop Vy, executive director of the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association (CamboJA), which monitors attacks on journalists and press freedoms, the lack of law enforcement has created a culture of impunity for those seeking to silence journalists with violence.
“Perpetrators are not scared in terms of [using] violence against journalists who they may think stand against their individual profits,” he told Mongabay.
Vy said that there may be new legislation in the works to protect journalists, but that there had been little public consultation. More broadly, he added, there is limited political will to address the issue of illegal logging that has seen more than a third of Cambodia’s primary forests vanish since 2001.
“This is a difficult time for independent journalists, especially environmental journalists who have been reporting on such sensitive issues without access to information legislation, under restrictions and the threat of the criminal code,” he said, calling for more support from donors to build a sustainable future for journalism in Cambodia.
Cambodian Information Minister Neth Pheaktra did not respond to questions sent by Mongabay, while Tep Asnarith, the ministry’s spokesperson, couldn’t be reached for comment. The ministry’s latest annual report said press freedoms in the country are deemed “very good” by 467 journalists surveyed.
Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders published their annual Press Freedoms Index showing that Cambodia dropped several places in the global rankings, from 151st out of 180 countries in 2024, to 161st of 180 in 2025.
Banner image: Cambodian journalist Ouk Mao has faced physical and legal threats for his continued reporting on environmental crimes in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. Image by Nehru Pry / Mongabay.
