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Mongabay journalist Gerry Flynn banned from Cambodia for reporting on illegal logging

On the evening of Jan. 5, Mongabay journalist Gerry Flynn was denied entry to Cambodia while returning from a vacation. Immigration officials at the airport told Flynn that he is “permanently banned” from Cambodia because there was “an error” on a document submitted as part of his last visa extension application. He was subsequently forced onto a plane and flown to Thailand.

According to documents produced by immigration officials, Flynn was placed on Cambodia’s blacklist as of Nov. 25, despite his visa extension being approved and valid through Feb. 15, 2025. Flynn’s visa agent, who acquired the visa extension on his behalf, assured him that if there had been any irregularities, the visa would not have been issued, nor would his work permit. Flynn had traveled many times on this visa without issue.

Flynn’s blacklisting came just three days after a France24 documentary scrutinizing carbon offsetting efforts in Cambodia aired on Nov. 22, 2024. Flynn featured as a source in the documentary, representing himself as a journalist working for Mongabay, and had no editorial input into the documentary. Other sources also faced arbitrary detention after the documentary aired, and the government issued a statement claiming the documentary used “old footage” to mislead the public—a claim that is wholly untrue.

Gerry Flynn in Stung Treng in 2021
Gerry Flynn in Stung Treng in 2021

For more than five years, Flynn has reported from Cambodia, and despite the increasing hostility towards journalists, it’s a country that he’s grown to love, full of people he deeply admires. As such, being uprooted from the country he has called home—in what appears to be direct retaliation for his journalistic work—is both a professional and personal blow.

The climate crisis is no longer an abstract, distant threat; it is a bleak reality for many living across Southeast Asia, and there is an urgent need for scrutiny of the management of natural resources. As extreme weather events proliferate throughout the Mekong region, journalists will continue to play a critical role in understanding how human activity is altering the ecosystems we all depend on. This may mean confronting uncomfortable truths, but silencing journalists will not bring back the forests, will not restore fish or wildlife populations, and will not undo the harm inflicted upon countless communities in the name of development.

Now, more than ever, Cambodia needs journalists who are able to freely scrutinize environmental matters. And while Flynn can no longer join them in bringing these critical issues to the forefront, we have no doubt that many will continue to report on them diligently.

Coverage of Flynn’s situation:

By Rhett Ayers Butler

Rhett Ayers Butler is the Founder and CEO of Mongabay, a non-profit conservation and environmental science platform that delivers news and inspiration from Nature's frontline via a global network of local reporters. He started Mongabay in 1999 with the mission of raising interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife.