Mam Sonando

Mam Sonando (ម៉ម សូណង់ដូ; born 13 February 1942) is a Cambodian radio journalist and politician with French dual citizenship.

Mam Sonando was born on 13 February 1942 in a small district called Kampong Siem in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia.

His father, Mam Soth, was a lawyer.

His mother Eam Ouch was born in Battambang province.

Sonando traveled to Paris in 1964 for school.

He attended the Vaugirard State Technical College of Photography and Cinematography, in Paris, France, from 1969 to 1970.

In 1973, he received a bachelor's degree with major in sociology and cinematography and audio visuals, at the Paris XV University.

He left Cambodia again in 1975 to avoid the rule of the Khmer Rouge, remaining in France until 1993.

That year, he returned to Cambodia and acquired a broadcasting license for a new station which he named Beehive Radio.

He used the station to advertise a new political party, the Beehive Democratic Society Party, and stood in the 1998 parliamentary election.

According to the Asia Times, his campaign only won him "a reputation as an eccentric, spouting Buddhist philosophy, pleas for democracy and a personal campaign for attention."

After failing to be elected, Sonando dissolved his party, but continued broadcasting on Beehive Radio as an independent journalist.

Sonando is the owner and director of Beehive Radio.

Sonando has been imprisoned three times on charges related to his reporting: a 2003 arrest for "inciting riots", a 2005 arrest for defamation, and a 2012 arrest for insurrection.

His twenty-year prison sentence for the latter was protested by human rights groups, and US President Barack Obama expressed concerns about the case in a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

In January 2003, riots broke out in Phnom Penh after a Cambodian newspaper incorrectly reported that a Thai actress had stated Angkor Wat properly belonged to Thailand.

On 29 January, the Thai embassy was burned, and hundreds of Thai immigrants fled the country to avoid the violence.

During the riots, a caller to Beehive Radio claimed incorrectly that Cambodian embassy officials were killed in Bangkok.

On 31 January, Sonando was arrested and accused of "relaying false information", "inciting discrimination", and "inciting crime".

He stated to reporters, "They blame me for broadcasting an opinion of a listener which turned out to be untrue. But if I have to go to jail to allow people to express their opinion I am happy."

Sonando was formally charged in court on 1 February; ten days later, he was released on bail.

The charges never came to trial.

Sonando was arrested again on 11 October 2005 after reporting on Prime Minister Hun Sen's treaty with Vietnam settling the two nations' border dispute; the report included a discussion with a French-based expert who criticized Hun Sen's concessions.

Sonando was charged with "criminal defamation", "disseminating false information", and "incitement".

On 3 November, he was denied bail.

Sonando's arrest was criticized by the United Nations and the European Union.

A coalition of 70 Cambodian civil society organizations also pushed for his release.

CPJ condemned the arrest as part of a "broad crackdown on freedom of expression", and Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience.

In late January 2006, Sonando was granted bail ahead of a visit by US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill.

Hun Sen described the release as a "gift" to the visitor.

The charges against Sonando were dropped before the end of the month.

He is the owner and director of Phnom Penh's Beehive Radio, which the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described in 2012 as "one of Cambodia's few independent news outlets".

He also acts as a political commentator for the station.

In 2012, Human Rights Watch described Beehive Radio as "a key platform for promotion of human rights and democracy in Cambodia".

The station is one of the few to address controversial topics, including "Cambodian civil society, the fight against HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality and human trafficking, campaigns for women's rights and gender equality, political and economic transparency, equitable and sustainable development, labor rights, environmental protection, the rule of law, and electoral education and election monitoring."

It also carries programming by Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, and Radio France Internationale.

The station is funded by a combination of advertising and private donations.

Some companies have declined to advertise with Beehive Radio due to its occasionally controversial reporting and political stances.

Sonando also refuses to run advertisements for "vice" products, including cigarettes.

The sentence was overturned by an appeals court in March 2013, and Sonando was instead given a five-year suspended sentence on charges of causing civil unrest.