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© 2021 Omar Havana
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - NOVEMBER 22: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny, who is currently in jail after being arrested on 15 August 2016, cries after hearing that fellow activist Yorm Bopha is to be released from prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 22, 2013. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA- SEPTEMBER 04: Tep Vanny's daughter, Ou Kung Panha, inside their family home at the former lake on September 04, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Panha misses her mother badly but she feels proud of her fight for the rights of the people of Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana for The Sydney Morning Herald
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - MARCH 08: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny cries in front of police forces blocking their march to a public forum in Freedom Park on International Women’s Day on March 8, 2014 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. On the 8th of March, leaders of 18 of Cambodia’s major labor union federations had planned to hold mass demonstrations to celebrate International Women’s Day. But despite the government lifting a ban on demonstrations a week earlier, hundreds of riot police and municipal security guards blocked access to the public forum planned by the unions. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA- SEPTEMBER 04: A young man sleeps in a garage shop where pictures of jailed Tep Vanny are displayed on the fence that separates the evicted land from Boeung Kak Lake on September 04, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Vanny was charged with incitement on August 17 after participating in a peaceful protest asking for the release of human rights defenders in Cambodia, in what looked like a message ahead of the commune and national elections in Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - AUGUST 09: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny shows off one of the scarves she has made while sitting next to a fellow activist inside her house which is used for the group as a meeting point to plan their protests on August 09, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They learned to make scarves while imprisoned for the first time in 2012 and have grown a liking to making them since then, selling them to raise money for their activities. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - AUGUST 11: Tep Vanny, an activist from Boeung Kak Lake, holds an umbrella with photos demanding the freedom of Yorm Bopha as part of the preparations for the next day’s protest in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on August 11, 2013. Since Boeung Kak Lake was leased to a private company in 2007, resulting in the evictions of surrounding communities in 2009, a group of women from the Lake has taken the forefront of the fight for their rights. Although their activism was initially dedicated to saving their homes, they are now some of Cambodia's most well-known, outspoken and fearless activists, becoming an iconic symbol of the fight of human rights and justice in Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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© 2021 Omar Havana
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - FEBRUARY 11: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny shouts slogans at police blocking a march to demand the freedom of 23 garment workers and union leaders imprisoned at the beginning of the year on February 11, 2014 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - OCTOBER 18: A municipal security member punches Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny during a student-led ceremony in memory of Mao Sok Chan, who was killed during clashes on September 15, on October 18, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - SEPTEMBER 22: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny cries while holding fellow activist Nget Khun’s hand, who is being treated in a hospital after being shot with a marble by police forces during a crackdown on a hunger strike in Wat Phnom organized by activists to demand justice in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on September 22, 2014. Since Boeung Kak Lake was leased to a private company in 2007, resulting in the evictions of surrounding communities in 2009, a group of women from the Lake has taken the forefront of the fight for their rights. Although their activism was initially dedicated to saving their homes, they are now some of Cambodia's most well-known, outspoken and fearless activists, becoming an iconic symbol of the fight of human rights and justice in Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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© 2021 Omar Havana
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - JANUARY 25: Tep Vanny cries after hearing the decision of the Supreme Court regarding her bail request on January 25, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Vanny was charged with incitement on August 17 after participating in a peaceful protest asking for the release of human rights defenders in Cambodia, in what looked like a message ahead of the commune and national elections in Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - OCTOBER 18: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny is blessed by Buddhist monks before the beginning of a peaceful march on the streets of Phnom Penh on October 18, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - SEPTEMBER 04: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny leads a protest demanding for the release of fellow activist Yorm Bopha on the streets of the Cambodian capital on September 4, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - NOVEMBER 22: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny, who is currently in jail after being arrested on 15 August 2016, cries after hearing that fellow activist Yorm Bopha is to be released from prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 22, 2013. Photo: © Omar Havana
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© 2021 Omar Havana
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - SEPTEMBER 10: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny shouts slogan during a demonstration in front of the European Union office demanding the release of Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience and fellow Boeung Kak Lake activist Yorm Bopha on September 10, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tep Vanny is a land rights activist from Boeung Kak Lake. She leads her community in challenging the government and private corporations trying to take their land. She was honored with the 2013 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards, Leadership in Public Life Award, for her land rights advocacy. She has been arrested several times before and sentenced to 2.5 years in jail in May 2012 together with 12 fellow activists from the lake. The thirteen were arrested on 22 May 2012, during a peaceful demonstration over a land dispute that has led to the displacement of over 3,500 families. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - AUGUST 29: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny, who is currently in jail after being arrested on 15 August 2016, holds a sign reading “solidarity” during a peace demonstration organized by Buddhist monks on August 29, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - SEPTEMBER 21: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny places a lotus flower on a razor-wire barricade erected on Phnom Penh's riverside after days of clashes between protesters and police forces on September 21, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - JANUARY 06: Land and human rights activist Tep Vanny is arrested by municipal security forces on January 6, 2014 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Cambodian authorities have put a ban on all public gatherings as part of a move by Prime Minister Hun Sen to prevent anti-government protestors from challenging his party's leadership. This comes after months of protests from anti-government activists with little response from the ruling party's leader. Photo: © Omar Havana / Getty Images
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - JANUARY 25: Tep Vanny cries while waiting behind bars to hear the decision of the Supreme Court regarding her bail request on January 25, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Vanny was charged with incitement on August 17 after participating in a peaceful protest asking for the release of human rights defenders in Cambodia, in what looked like a message ahead of the commune and national elections in Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - SEPTEMBER 01: Boeung Kak Lake activist Tep Vanny addresses the public during a rally by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in Freedom Park on September 1, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - JANUARY 25: Tep Vanny begs for her freedom after being denied bail by the Supreme Court on January 25, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Vanny was charged with incitement on August 17, 2016 after participating in a peaceful protest asking for the release of human rights defenders in Cambodia, in what looked like a message ahead of the commune and national elections in Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - NOVEMBER 22: Boeung Kak Lake activists celebrate after hearing the release on bail of fellow activist and Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience Yorm Bopha after being jailed for 444 days in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 22, 2014. Since Boeung Kak Lake was leased to a private company in 2007, resulting in the evictions of surrounding communities in 2009, a group of women from the Lake has taken the forefront of the fight for their rights. Although their activism was initially dedicated to saving their homes, they are now some of Cambodia's most well-known, outspoken and fearless activists, becoming an iconic symbol of the fight of human rights and justice in Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - JULY 27: Activists from the Boeung Kak Lake community lead a protest at the doors of the Appeal Court demanding the release of their fellow activist and community leader Tep Vanny during an appeal hearing on July 27, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - JANUARY 25: Tep Vanny cries while waiting behind bars to hear the decision of the Supreme Court regarding her bail request on January 25, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Vanny was charged with incitement on August 17 after participating in a peaceful protest asking for the release of human rights defenders in Cambodia, in what looked like a message ahead of the commune and national elections in Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - NOVEMBER 21: Tep Vanny, one of the famous activists from Boeung Kak Lake, deposits a flower in the sand that today covers the homes from where more than 3,000 families have been evicted since 2008 as a part of an agreement signed between the Cambodian Government and the company Shukaku Inc. to build condominiums and other complexes on the land on November 21, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: © Omar Havana
Public Story
A woman's Cry: The detention of Tep Vanny
Credits:
omar havana
Date of Work:
07/01/13 - 12/10/17
Updated: 01/24/20
Tep Vanny is Cambodia’s most famous activist and the leader of the women of Boeung Kak Lake, who stormed the country after their forced eviction from the lake. Since then, Tep Vanny has received several international awards for her activism and has been jailed several times, but has never given up her fight for justice. She has become a symbol of the human rights movement in Cambodia, a country where freedom of speech is constantly being curtailed by the ruling party.
On 15 August 2016, she was arrested during a protest calling for the release of five fellow human rights defenders (known as the “Freethe5KH”). One week later, she was convicted on charges of “insult to a public official” and sentenced to six days in prison. However, instead of releasing her, authorities subsequently reactivated charges that had been brought against her in 2013 but never followed up on; in September 2016 she was sentenced to six months in prison, and in February 2017, to an additional 30 months in jail and fined USD3,500. Multiple appeals for her release have been denied.
"Tep Vanny’s only “crime” is defending human rights. Her detention is arbitrary and illegal and sadly shows how the Cambodian authorities have turned the courts into tools of repression. Her trial was deeply flawed as no credible evidence was presented against her... This is a clear attempt by the Cambodian authorities to silence one of the country’s most prominent activists – conveniently for the government, they have also assured that Tep Vanny will be kept in prison during next year’s general election".
Josef Roy Benedict. Former Deputy Director - Campaigns. Southeast Asia and Pacific Regional Office Amnesty International
Vanny was finally released from prison in August 2018 after receiving a royal pardon from Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on request of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Photography: © Omar Havana. All Rights Are Reserved
Omar Havana
Stories
A woman's Cry: The detention of Tep Vanny
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