Journalists Killed in 1997 - Motive Confirmed: Michael Senior
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | January 1998 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, Journalists Killed in 1997 - Motive Confirmed: Michael Senior, January 1998, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4e64950fe.html [accessed 6 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Freelancer
July 7, 1997, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Senior, a television newscaster and English teacher, was assassinated while photographing looting by soldiers in a public market in the aftermath of a coup begun two days earlier by then-second prime minister Hun Sen. He was accosted by the soldiers, Hun Sen loyalists, who shot him first in the knee. As he lay in the street pleading for mercy, he was shot again, executed in front of his Cambodian wife and brother-in-law.
The 23-year-old Canadian citizen was born in Cambodia, where he was orphaned as an infant during the Pol Pot terror years. In 1975, he was adopted by a family in Canada, where he was raised. He returned to Cambodia in 1995. He had earlier worked at the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh editors say that Senior's pictures, had they been recovered, would have been used in their coverage of the coup.
| Medium: | Print, Television |
| Job: | Broadcast Reporter, Photographer |
| Beats Covered: | Politics |
| Gender: | Male |
| Local or Foreign: | Local |
| Freelance: | No |
| Type of Death: | Murder |
| Suspected Source of Fire: | Military Officials |
| Impunity: | Yes |
| Taken Captive: | No |
| Tortured: | Yes |
| Threatened: | No |
