Siem Reap court tries British national in ‘pornographic dancing’ case

Niem Chheng | Publication date 15 March 2018 | 19:28 ICT

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British national Daniel Jones, shown here in Cambodia in an undated photo, was questioned by Siem Reap provincial court Thursday on charges of producing "pornography." Photo supplied

The Siem Reap Provincial Court on Thursday heard the case of a British national who was charged with “producing pornography” after authorities broke up a seemingly innocuous pool party in the tourist town.

Briton Daniel Jones was one of nearly 80 people arrested by anti-human trafficking police at the pool party in January on accusations of “pornographic dancing”. All were eventually released except for Jones. No evidence has been produced so far to support the pornography charges, and a local official has admitted that the group organised parties and pub crawls in the area, but “did not produce pornographic pictures”.

During Thursday's two-and-a-half hour hearing, Siem Reap's deputy anti-human trafficking deputy police chief, Chhay Haklong, claimed that “if the police had not cracked down in time, it would have led to sexual activity, or other things”.

But Sourng Sophea, one of Jones’ three defence lawyers, pointed out that no crime had in fact been committed.

“The police did not have more evidence, only the pictures from Facebook,” Sophea said, referring to apparently outdated photos released by police at the time of the initial arrests. “He just said he was concerned that something more than that would happen.”

The photos released at the time of the raid depicted a party showing men and women, all fully clothed, in sexually suggestive positions. The photos also appear to have been taken at night, while the Siem Reap pool party took place during the day.

Sophea told the court that the photos were from a party organised by a different group, and added that Jones specifically banned sex, nudity, violence and drugs from his parties.

“My client said he did not have an intention to destroy the culture and traditions of Cambodia. His intention was to have a party and have fun with friends,” Sophea said.

Judge Um Chan Thol ended the hearing without delivering a verdict.

In a message, Jones' sister Elizabeth said her brother was doing “OK”, and that family was following the case from the UK. “He is a remarkably strong and pragmatic guy,” she said.

The British Embassy did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.

Additional reporting by Daphne Chen