One dead, seven hurt after lightning strikes

A FISHERMAN and his brother were struck by lightning on Sunday – one of them fatally – while six others were injured in storms, local police said yesterday.

Yin Sarat, Muk Kampoul district deputy police chief, identified the Kandal victim as Mit Soles, 59, an ethnic Cham fisherman.

He was struck by lightning while he was with his brother, Mit Sosyan, 57, and several others under a tent near the Mekong River.

“They [were] under a tent . . . with six people praying as part of the Islamic tradition” while it was raining, he said.

Mit Soles and Sosyan were the only two struck by the lightning, but the victim’s brother survived the strike.

Inclement weather also injured a family of six in Kampong Chhnang province’s Rolea Ba’ier district, when a rainstorm there caused their 3-metre-tall stilted home to collapse.

One of the six, a 12-year-old boy, broke his hand, while a 12-year-old girl broke both of her legs, according to Sok Bunthorn, Rolea Ba’ier deputy police chief.

The storm destroyed at least four other homes in the vicinity, he added. Long said the amendments were due to be discussed in an open session later this week, unless there were last-minute changes.

CPP lawmaker and assembly spokesman Chheang Vun declined to comment, saying the proposal was being studied by the party’s legal experts.

Ou Virak, head of the Future Forum think tank, said the political law was supposed to be a foundation of democracy, not the expression of any one party’s whims. What’s more, he added, it would be logistically difficult to legally target one opponent.

“If you have a law that will only be for a few individuals, it’s basically undercutting the authority of the government to enforce its own law,” he said. “If [Rainsy] turns around and supports the CPP, are they going to dissolve the CPP?”

Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said the ruling party’s frankness also opened up a lot of questions.

“At long last, all the false pretense from the CPP falls away, revealing what we said all along – that the revised political parties law is simply a crude instrument for PM Hun Sen and the government to bash the opposition into submission,” Robertson said in an email. “What’s worrying is what does this mean? Are the gloves off, is the government ready to walk away from any meaningful respect for democratic rights in the run up to the 2018 national election?”