*FROTHING CAMBODIA'S-MEDIA FREEDOM?*

HRW terms sale of Cambodian newspaper disaster for media freedom.

BANGKOK : The purchase of the Phnom Penh Post by a Malaysian whose public relations firm lists Cambodia's long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen as a client is a-

''Disaster'' for media freedom ahead of a general election, an international right's group said on Monday.

In power for 33 years, Hun Sen and his allies have cracked down on perceived critics, opposition politicians, independent media and human rights group ahead of the July 29 vote.

The sale of the  English-language daily, which has been largely critical of the government, was announced last Saturday by Australian businessman Bill Clough, who has owned the newspaper since 2008.

On Monday, last the newspaper's editor- in- chief said he   was fired for allowing the publication of an article about the sale, while several staff members said on social media that they had quit.

The new owner is Malaysian investor  Sivakumar Ganapathy, an executive director at Asia Public Relations Consultants Sdn Bhd, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur.

The PR firm's website referred to  ''Cambodia and Hun Sen's entry into the Government seat''  as one of its projects.

It described Ganapathy as leading a team managing  ''covert operations''  for its clients. It did not elaborate.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of  Human Rights Watch, said the deal was a  ''disaster for media freedom,'' telling this news agency that  ''the only plausible rational for this acquisition is to blunt the Post's critical coverage of the government.''

''They fired me,'' the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Kay Kimsong, said, adding the reason was a report the newspaper published about the sale.

''They said that as  ''editor-in-chief''  I allowed the story about the sale of Phnom Penh Post to be published''. [Reuters].