him, we had a lot of programs, they drop out of his food because they weren't getting nothing when coming from home. that could have easily been us. any one of us, ah, ah, this is d w 's asia coming up to day jostens of opposition activists convicted of, treason in cambodia. the us and rights groups condemned the guilty verdicts as politically motivated, designed to cement the hold on power of cambodia as well for terry and leda will speak to human rights watch. shortly. clos, carry lam,

gives her final press conference as leader of hong kong will look back at heard, complicated, controversial legacy. ah, i'm jared raid. welcome. thanks for joining us. it's being cold. the death of cambodia is democracy. a court in the capital opened on pan has jail dozens of opposition figures they were convicted of conspiring to commit treason rights group, say the entire process was a sham accusing. long time leader who insane of using the mass trial to crack down on descent and hold on to power in the trial aimed at suppressing dissenting voices . terry sang, one of the accused made it clear she had come to defend liberty ay

all across the road in a court room sang and 60 other dissidence. many of them already in exile were being tried for treason the quarter ledgers. they helped plot the return of the leader of the band cambodia national rescue party. once the ruling party's main rival i am ready for the shay, i'm a verdict that will be announced that morning which will be guilty wording. i am ready and prepared to god till that notorious commode in prison, for my political opinions, for my belief, i am, i believe in democracy. as the verdict was announced, sayings predictions born out. she was found guilty and sentenced to 6 years in prison. others received sentences of 5 to 8 years. shortly afterwards, she was arrested and bundled into

a police car scuffles interrupted between her supporters and police. cambodian court, so widely believed to be under the influence of prime minister hern sen, seen here at local elections just over a week ago. he has been leading cambodia for 37 years human rights group say with increasingly repressive methods. sen has effectively turn cambodia into a one party state by arresting and prosecuting his critics. this trial appears to be his latest attempt to stamp out any remaining opposition. we can go now to bank hawk and speak to phil robinson, the deputy director of the asia division of human rights watch. feel welcome to d. w. news asia you've spoken out very forcefully on the conviction of these opposition. party members in cambodia on twitter to day you called it an outrageous

violation of rights. could you run through exactly what you mean? well these people have been hit with trumped up charges and basically dragged in front of a court that is not independent is a kangaroo court that does the bidding of the ruling party and the prime minister of cambodia. and what we're seeing is no real evidence produced at these trials to prove the cases of incitement or conspiracy that these people are being accused and have now been convicted of. again, it is just more of the same from cambodia. it's a single party state that is using unfair laws and unjust courts to go after the opposition and put them away for long prison terms. it is again an action by the cambodian government to try to wipe out what remains of the political opposition and further narrow political space in the country. now the u. s.

cambodian lawyer and campaign a terry saying he was one of those convicted and we just saw her in that pace. she says people in cambodia are living in a dictatorship now. is she right? she's actually right. i mean, it's quite clear that the cambodian government is becoming more dictatorial by the day rights abuses are expanding across the country. there is no political opposition elected, political opposition really to speak of. and you know, once and then his is party and his government. i basically control all the levers of power and they're not afraid to go after anyone that makes a criticism on facebook or otherwise says something negative about the government. now you just mentioned prime minister who and send what means to the international community have to pressure him over this and how likely are they to use them? well, i think we need to see more pressure on trade with cambodia. the european union has

an existing and everything, but arms agreement with cambodia and 20 percent of that was suspended before the pandemic hit because a labor rights violations. i think that the european union should go back to that again and, and look at taking more frankly. cambodia is in clear violation of the terms of the agreement that requires cambodia to follow existing international human rights treaties and labor rights conventions and and can bodies doing none of it. now critics of one sin say that over many years he has eliminated his critics. but specifically, use the pandemic to do this. to. to what extent did he use coven 19 to expand his authoritarian control? while he passed a and emergency law that is breathtaking its scope, it has not been invoked, but it essentially allows him to do anything he wants. he invokes that law and he

has used various different provisions of law against people who are criticizing him on facebook, saying that the coven pandemic response and can. but he was not up to snuff that, for instance, some of the vaccines that they had received from certain countries were not good. you know, all the criticism that was made online. you know, if you said something on facebook about what the prime minister is doing uncovered, you could expect the next day or 2 that the police wouldn't be knocking on your door. and that is the new reality in cambodia that online surveillance is now matched with real repression on the ground by the police in the military who are completely in whom sense camp. a pretty dim picture, this new reality as you say, describe it, fill more generally. what's the state of play when it comes to human rights in cambodia? well, we're seeing a civil and political rights being violated on

a regular basis. this is freedom expression, freedom of association. it's basically impossible to hold a political protest in cambodia in the capital city. not been people who are campaigning against a dams against land seizures against other environmental issues that no affect people's basic lives are facing arrests. ah, you know, it's across the board of that. we've seen a real tightening of repression against anybody who raises criticism against the government. cambodia, that was phil robertson, the deputy director of the asia division of human rights watch. phil, thank you very much to hong kong. now way a carry lamb has given her final press conference to die is leader of the territory . her turn has been tumultuous, mocked by violent pro democracy unrest, a crackdown by badging and a panoramic that's left thousands did. but little of that factor into lans.

comments to the media. she told reporters she was proud of her record. lamb said the territories governance had improved since badging put quite patriots in power. let's speak now to tom grundy, editor in chief of hong kong, free press. welcome to d, w. news asia carry, lamb says she has no regrets about her time in office, but she does leave behind a very complicated, controversial legacy. could you talk us through that? yes. well that, and i said that she's proud of her tenure in the spinal days. but 3 years ago this week, she offered a solemn, a sincere apology for sparking those 2019 anti extradition bill protests. but now i say that the government did nothing wrong. nevertheless, as far as critics are concerned, she oversaw the biggest worse than rest since the $960.00 millions on the streets. $10000.00 ultimately arrested us sanctions against top officials of the 60 civil

society groups disbanded. busy the last couple of years, amid the security law and newspaper brains, most of the opposition now behind bars of exile, also nearly 10000 cubic deaths and not taking poverty and a huge accidents the brain drain as residents leave the city. she will say that, you know, the security orders as offered stability. she was up against the cold pandemic and this new infrastructure than our tough. but to be honest, the most people she will not be mixed. now we, if we look forward, carry lands replacement as hong kong leader is going to be john lee. what can we expect after his inauguration on july the 1st well this. busy a police officer was chosen in a small circle election by establishment leads. he was the only candidate and room and all that on july 1st and a couple of weeks. presidential campaign will be in town and will swearing it ex

police officer to be taking up a lot of top sucks like the crops indicating beijing's insecurity about on kong. lee is not exactly mr. korea, but he will likely get an act whatever. pacing is hoping for and it certainly indicates perhaps that he, the crap bound, will continue to grow long. he has promised to call security law crowdfunding regulation, a fake news bowl, as well as broad plans to tackle the housing crisis. but to be honest manifesto was quite thin, so it's quite clear what exactly is going to be doing when he takes office. okay, so you expect the crack down to to continue after john lee takes off his let's go back and talk a little bit more about kerry lan and the pandemic which hit hong kong very hard. she enacted strict cove at 19 measures, but now says that de damaged hong kong international status. who is she blaming

here? that the different county allowed in recent days. i mean experts, settings time to relax a coby message. we have high immunity, alma crohn, and yet the city still has 7 days quarantine for rivals masks in all places. at old times, 247 full person limits in public. she said this morning that there be no more changes until her successor takes over. but you know, business chambers have been begging to open the old brain drain company leaving and yet she finally makes it over the last few days in deep damage has been done to the city of international status. it's meant to be a business. but you know, even with success, it's unlikely that we're going to see big changes in policy and the china to bet, pursuing the cobra policy policy. it's practically

a ideology in contrast to the us approach at this point. and it doesn't seem that going to change track, at least until the season is sworn in life in november later this year. that was tom grundy, editor in chief of hong kong, free press. tom, thank you very much. and that's it for today on day w. news isaiah, you can check out more of our stories on t w dot com, forward slash asia. i'm jared rate in berlin. thanks so much for watching. see tomorrow with sh her again that i think that's hard. and in the end the some me, you are not allowed to see you anymore, we will send you back. are you familiar with this with the smudges with

lions as of the what's your story. ready i mean, wasn't, i was women, especially victims of violence in a lapse of take part and send us your story. the chain always to understand this new culture. so you are not a visitor, not the guests. you want to become a citizen in full migrants, your platform for reliable information. ah, the united nations warns of a global food crisis as 20000000 tons of grain are trapped in ukraine. we'll show you why blocked ports aren't the only problem. ukrainian serial producers are facing also the ship fuel prices. i've been soaring in pakistan as the government

has slash subsidies. will that be enough to unlock much needed financial aid from the international monetary fund? will have expert analysis, and spaniards have long struggle to find work and you labor reform could change that will take you to madrid, find out. i'm chris kolber, welcome to the program. the united nations has begged world trade ministers not to impose export restrictions on food for humanitarian purposes. the plea comes as russia's invasion of ukraine has heightened concerns for global food security, ukraine's black c port a block preventing the country from exporting its produce. and those farmers that are not busy fighting phase extra difficulty in bringing in the harvest when someone has but on the left we have to connect these in the fields in march. when we went out there, our tracking drivers wouldn't work.