Bangkok, February 3, 2025—Cambodian immigration officials denied re-entry to Gerald Flynn, a journalist with multilingual environmental news outlet Mongabay who has covered Cambodia’s deforestation crisis, and forced him onto a flight back to Bangkok, Thailand, on January 5, according to a February 3 statement by the California-based outlet and Flynn, who spoke with CPJ.
The officials accused Flynn of having a fake visa and said he was “permanently banned” from returning to Cambodia. Flynn, a U.K. citizen, has consistently held a valid government-issued press pass over the past five years, the Mongabay statement said.
“Blocking journalist Gerald Flynn from re-entering the country shows just how far Cambodian authorities are willing to go to suppress independent reporting on the country’s environmental issues. Cambodian authorities must immediately revoke the entry ban imposed against Flynn,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “If Cambodia really wants to save its forests, the country needs more, not fewer, watchdog journalists like Flynn. The reality is Cambodia’s predators of the press are knocking down environmental reporters as fast as its forests are falling.”
Flynn has lived and reported in Cambodia since 2019 and served as president of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia in 2023 and 2024. The move comes after Flynn was featured in a November 2024 France24 documentary that questioned the efficacy of Cambodia’s flagship carbon offsetting project, known as the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment and project proponent Wildlife Alliance both issued statements calling the France24 documentary “fake news” and said it misled the public by allegedly using old images. Neither statement detailed specific factual errors or inaccuracies in the report.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on Flynn’s re-entry ban.
Environmental reporters face grave risks in Cambodia. In December, Chhoeung Chheng, an environmental journalist with the local Kampuchea Aphivath, was shot and killed while reporting on the transport of alleged illegally cut timber in a Siem Reap province sanctuary.