The Cambodia daily All the News Without Fear or Favor Tuesday, October 21, 2014 Volume 59 Issue 54 2,000 riel/50 cents Businessman Freed After Intervention By Officials B y S imon H enderSon and H ay P iSey THE CAMBODIA DAILY the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on thursday ordered that Cambodian-american businessman richer San be released from prison, where he was being held on serious fraud charges, overturning the appeal Court’s decision to reject his bail request a week earlier, court officials said yesterday. the decision came after intervention from the U.S. Embassy and with the blessing of Prime Minister Hun Sen, a lawyer in the case said. Phnom Penh dentist Eng Lykuong accuses Mr. San, along with his three partners—New york State assemblyman William Nojay, former U.S. envoy to the U.N. Sichan Siv and texan businessman thomas Willems—of conning her into investing $1 million in their company, akra agricultural Partners Inc. the 52-year-old Mr. San, who has filed a counter-lawsuit against Ms. Lykuong demanding $1 million in compensation for defamation and false testimony, had already appealed to be released on bail, citing his poor health. But on October 9, appeal Court judge In Vanvibol rejected his request, saying there was too great a risk that Continued on page 2 About Cambodia • Preah Vihear Protesters Clash With Security Guards in Capital • CNRP Begins Registration for First Opposition TV Station Page 15 • ADB to Help Find Answers for Railway Families • Destitute Villagers Band Together to Find Baby Page 16 • 'Khmer for Khmer' Group Says No Party Plans • Gov't Sets Ground Rules for Ongoing Wage Talks Page 17 John Vink Land rights activist Ouk Pich Samnang attempts to drive his tuk-tuk through a security barricade near Prime Minister Hun Sen's house in Phnom Penh yesterday during a protest by evictees from Preah Vihear province. (Story page 15) Reformer Widodo Sworn In as Indonesia President REUTERS - Indonesia’s joko Widodo took over as president of the world’s third-largest democracy yesterday with supporters’ hopes high but pressing economic problems and skeptical rivals set to test the former furniture businessman. Widodo won a narrow victory over a former general in a july election with promises of clean government and tackling entrenched interests. It was the first time in the young democracy’s history that a president was elected from outside jakarta the established military and political elite. “this is the time for us to unite our hearts and hands, this is the time for us...to reach and realize an Indonesia that has political sovereignty, economic independence and cultural character,” Widodo said in his inaugural speech to a packed parliament. His priorities will be getting to grips with slowing growth in the resource-rich country, deteriorating government finances, a heavy subsidy bill and flagging investor interest. U.S. Secretary of State john kerry attended the inauguration along with various asian leaders including the prime ministers of neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, the Sultan of Brunei and australia’s prime minister. the former mayor of the city of Solo and governor of the capital, jakarta, is untested on the national and international stages but already faces resistance from the establishment to his transparent, can-do Continued on page 2 Warning Seen as Riyadh Steps Up Beheadings REUTERS rIyadH, Saudi arabia - Immediately after his sword falls, the Saudi arabian executioner steps backward to avoid soiling his clothes with the blood of the condemned man, whose headless body can be seen slumping over backward in the shaky online film. after perfunctorily checking the white folds of his robe for flecks of red, the executioner wipes his blade with a tissue, which he drops onto the corpse and walks away. a sudden surge in public execu- tions in Saudi arabia in the last two months has coincided with a U.S.led bombing campaign against the Islamic State insurgent group. this has led to inevitable comparisons in Western media between I.S.’s beheadings and those practiced in Saudi arabia. defenders of the Saudi death penalty say beheadings, usually with a single sword stroke, are at least as humane as lethal injections in the U.S. they deplore any comparison between the kingdom’s execution of convicted criminals The Daily Newspaper of Record Since 1993 and I.S.’ extrajudicial killing of innocent hostages. But rights activists say they are more concerned by the justice system behind the death penalty in Saudi arabia than by its particular method of execution. and critics of the al Saud ruling family say the latest wave of executions may have a political message, with riyadh determined to demonstrate its toughness at a moment of regional turmoil. twenty-six people were beheaded Continued on page 3