KI Media: “Theary C. SENG files Civil Party Applicatio​n to ECCC Case 003/004 against KR military commanders MEAS Muth and SOU Met” plus 24 more

The 2555 Khmer New Year Celebration Invitation Organized by the

Sam Rainsy Party-Rhode Island/Fall River.

Date: Saturday April 16, BE2554, AD2011

Location: Portuguese Club, 20 Second Avenue, Cranston, RI

Open to the public, everyone is welcomed.

Proceeds to benefit the Sam Rainsy Party in advancing Cambodia to establish a clear policy on protecting national territories, to become a true democratic country, independent court, independent electoral system, and respect human rights.

SRP-RI/FR is a chapter of the Sam Rainsy Party-North America that supports the parent Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), the genuine democratic and second largest political party in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Contact Information: Praser Pel 401.588.0595, Sarath Say 401.374.7993, Ken S. Oung 401.595.6786, Puthy Iech 401.461.0224, Saroeun Phann 401.286.8721, or E-mail: srpri@yahoo.com.

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kScGf1ohpjw

This has been a community and public announcement of Templenews TV.

Should have any further inquiries, please contact an appropriate channel, individuals, telephone numbers, and email address provided above.

Templenews TV

Website - http://www.templenews.org

There is hope for the future because God has a sense of humor and we are funny to God.

- Bill Cosby

Article 17

PHNOM PENH, Apr. 1, 2011 (Xinhua) -- A three-day world expo on architecture and construction kicked off here Friday as the country's construction sector has been showing a sign of recovery after two-year slump.

The event has brought together 40 exhibitors from Japan, China, Italy, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, said Le Thanh Tam, CEO of International Digital Group to ASEAN, which is the organizer.

"Those companies are manufacturers of construction materials and equipment, and architecture firms,"he said, adding"this event is very important for suppliers and developers to meet for business cooperation."

Im Chhun Lim, minister of land management, urban planning and construction, said that during opening the expo that the event was held coincided with the recovery of the country's construction after the impact from the global financial crisis in 2008.

"Within the first two months of this year, the ministry has observed that the number of developers applied for construction licenses has increased 50 percent, especially mega-projects, if compared to the same period last year,"he said.

"This demonstrated the gradual recovery of the sector after it was hard-hit by the crisis since 2008,"he said.

One of the exhibitors is the Guangdong Kin Long Hardware Products from China.

"We have observed that the construction sector in Cambodia has grown very fast in recent years,"Sandy Lee, regional sales manager of Kin Long to South Asia, told Xinhua, adding "the fast growth can be a good opportunity for our company to expand our presence here."

The company specialized in manufacturing all types of construction materials, so far, it has 30 branches throughout Asia, Middle East, and Europe, he added.

Cambodia's construction and real estate sector have faced the downturn since the global financial crisis in 2008.

The report from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction showed that the investments on the country's real estate developments have constantly declined from 3.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2008 to 1.98 billion U.S. dollars in 2009 and further drop to 840 million U.S. dollars in 2010.

Also, land prices in the city had dropped further 10 percent in 2010 after declining up to 40 percent in 2009, according to the record by the National Valuers Association of Cambodia (NVAC).

Cambodia has received mixed information from Thailand about its participation in next week's meetings in Indonesia on border conflict between the two countries, said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday afternoon.

"Now we have received mixed information from Bangkok on the meetings," he said in a press briefing, referring to the meetings of Cambodia-Thai General Border Committee (GBC) and Joint Border Committee on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) on April 7-8 that are to be held in Bogor, Indonesia.

He said that Cambodia has already prepared itself for the meetings. Cambodia's GBC will be led by Defense Minister Tea Banh and JBC by its president Var Kimhong.

The premier made the remarks after Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya on Thursday said that there is a possibility that only the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Committee (JBC) meeting will be held in Indonesia, without convening a General Border Committee (GBC) meeting.

"Until now the Thai Defense Ministry still hopes that Cambodia will host the 7th GBC meeting so that the JBC meeting would be the only meeting to be convened in Indonesia on April 7-8," the Thai state media MCOT online quoted Kasit as saying.

Cambodia and Thailand's troops exchanged fire just a week after the disputed Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border, and periodic clashes happened, resulting in the deaths of troops on both sides.

The latest clashes took place on Feb. 4-7, killing and wounding many soldiers and citizens of both sides.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon on Friday reiterated that he will not attend a Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee meeting in Indonesia or any other third country.

The meeting must be held either in Thailand or Cambodia, he said.

"If the GBC meeting is held in a third country, its results may require parliamentary approval under Section 190 of the constitution. Therefore, the meeting must be bilateral, between soldiers of the two countries," Gen Prawit said.

The GBC is co-chaired by the defence ministers of Thailand and Cambodia.

Gen Tea Banh, the Cambodian defence minister, said in an interview with the Bangkok Post in Phnom Penh on Wednesday that Gen Prawit had agreed to attend the 8th GBC meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, on April 7-8.

Col Thanathip Sawangsaeng, the defence spokesman, said in an earlier interview that there might be a misunderstanding on the part of Gen Tea Banh because Gen Prawit had never said he would go to Indonesia.

A military source in Cambodia said if Thailand and Cambodia could not reach a settlement on this mattter the 8th GBC might be postponed again.

Thailand-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC)'s documents might not be considered in the Thai parliament on Tuesday but the government would join the meeting with Cambodia in Indonesia next week as planned, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday.

"We are engaging with Cambodia to go ahead the JBC meeting on April 78," Abhisit told reporters.

The parliament might not be able to convene on April 5 as earlier scheduled since the speaker Chai Chidchob informed the members that he had to wait for the official notification from the constitution court, he said.

KAMPOT, 1 April 2011 (IRIN) - Yinn Siet, 65, recalls in horror when a snarling dog bit her husband four years ago. Before he died, the farmer hallucinated and convulsed. "He barked like a dog," she said. "We put a chain on him and locked him up."

He had contracted rabies, a virus that kills nearly all victims who develop symptoms.

Yinn could not afford to bring her husband to the capital Phnom Penh, the only city in Cambodia that has a centre offering free treatment.

Even if she had, it would have been too late.

He left behind his family of seven, who are struggling to make ends meet through farming.

Cambodians in the countryside have little access to treatment for rabies, a preventable disease that disproportionately affects the rural young and poor.

If dog-bite victims do not seek immediate treatment, they are likely to die. The virus is untreatable after symptoms appear, which can be anything from 10 days to a year after being bitten.

"The loss of a family member to rabies has a profound psychological impact on the family," said Deborah Briggs, head of the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, a US-based NGO. "The disease is frightening and it is devastating to watch a loved one die." In 2007, the most recent year data are available, 810 human rabies deaths may have occurred in Cambodia, says a study in Neglected Tropical Diseases, a science journal.

The number is only an estimate. Hundreds of cases in the countryside go unreported, because patients are rarely hospitalized and tend to die at home.

The estimated rabies mortality for 2007 exceeded that of malaria (240 deaths) and dengue fever (400 deaths), the study said.

The report concluded that free post-exposure prophylaxis, an injection after a bite that prevents infection, is really only relevant for residents of Phnom Penh. Injections must be administered promptly, usually within 10 days of an infection.

The Pasteur Institute, a non-profit medical research and treatment centre in Phnom Penh, is the only institution in Cambodia offering free post-exposure treatments.

The rural poor often cannot afford lengthy and expensive visits to the capital and therefore miss out on the free treatment.

"We see maybe five patients per year who arrive with symptoms," says Philippe Buchy, head of the virology unit at the Pasteur Institute, "and the only thing we can do is to send them to Calmette Hospital where they will die after few days."

The fact that poor people are most susceptible to rabies means campaigns against the virus tend to be given lower priority, said François-Xavier Meslin, the Geneva-based team leader for neglected zoonotic diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Epidemiology

Warm-blooded mammals, mostly dogs, spread the virus through bites, scratches, and licks on open wounds.

Typically between 10 days and a year after exposure, patients experience insomnia, headaches, a fever, and twitching around their wound.

Two to 10 days after those first signs appear, they hallucinate, have seizures, become fearful at the sight of water and experience paralysis. Most rabies patients die from respiratory failure.

Each year, about 55,000 people around the world die from rabies. More than 80 percent of cases are in Asia, according to WHO, which says half of all human rabies deaths occur in children under 15.

"Every one of those deaths could have been prevented as we have the vaccines… available to save their lives before clinical signs begin," Briggs told IRIN.

In Bali, Indonesia, authorities culled 100,000 dogs to prevent the spread of rabies by shooting poison blow darts at them, but the authorities halted this policy last September in favour of a mass inoculation programme of 400,000 dogs (70 percent of the island's dog population).

WHO's Meslin does not advocate killing dogs because it is "inhumane," he told IRIN.

In Cambodia, the Pasteur Institute recommends setting up a national rabies control programme to improve disease surveillance and access to treatment. It also recommends starting vaccination campaigns for dogs.

In some of Cambodia's thousands of killing fields, the bones of the dead can sometimes be seen, rising to the surface after storms or rain, grisly emblems of an unburied past. Perhaps 16,000 died at the s-21 Detention Camp in Phnom Penh, or at Choeung Ek outside the city. All told, an estimated 2 million people died during Pol Pot's terror reign.

Some of that horror is being retold on the stage. On Wednesday evening, the town of Tik Panhaow as the scene of a searing, stark drama in the dimly-lit marketplace in front of the village pagoda, a bumpy hour's motorcycle ride outside Phnom Penh.

Tears run down Nhem Roeun's face as she watches and listens to the performers on a makeshift stage.

"Where was my father? Where did you kill him?" a woman asks. The Khmer Rouge cadre she accuses deny any foul play or knowing where the missing man is. Later, as the drama moves through its seven mini-plays, all played by the same group of actors and actresses, the impact of Breaking the Silence becomes apparent.

Encouraged beforehand to speak about their experiences after seeing the play, the older audience members nod in recognition of the themes, actions, dynamics and events recounted throughout, in a sparse, almost Beckettian style, which seems to fit well with the tranquil open-air setting.

Sayana Ser works for the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, whose vast repository of real-life accounts of the Khmer Rouge era were reproduced, often verbatim, in 'Breaking the Silence'. "The people identify with what they see. We have staged the play 20 times now, and often there is an emotional reaction", she says.

Watching the enactment of a scene in which a daughter steals rice from her family amid looming starvation, older men and women turn to each other. "It's true" is whispered around the 200 or so people sitting in the night-time warm, fanned by an unseasonal yet welcome cooling breeze.

Aged 58 and born in Svay Rieng, Nhem Roeun was in her 20s when the Khmer Rouge killed her father and brother in Battambang. "It is good that children see this," she said, wiping her cheek, "but I am not happy that Duch is appealing".

Breaking the silence onstage (Photo: Simon Roughneen)

Kaing Guak Eav, better known as Comrade Duch, was the head of S-21, a detention and torture camp in the heart of the nearby capital. So far Duch is the only person convicted of crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge era, even though a quarter of the country's population died. He is appealing his 35 year sentence, which was handed down in July 2010 by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), to give the tribunal its full title.

Duch says he committed his crimes under duress from the senior Khmer Rouge leaders, four of whom are scheduled to go on trial later in 2011. The prosecution is saying that Duch should face a longer jail term, given that he could conceivably emerge a free man after spending 18-19 years in jail, with the sentence effectively commuted due to time already served in detention.

Lawyer and writer Theary Seng's parents were murdered by the Khmer Rouge, and she says that a reduced sentence for Duch would be an injustice. However, looking ahead to the trial of the main surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, she thinks the inconsistencies shown by Duch during his trial and appeal could jeopardize the bigger Case Number 2.

"Duch will be the star witness when Nuon Chea and the others face the court", she said, asking "what better way to discredit the witness by having him flip-flop before the court already?" She believes that Duch came under pressure to amend his remorseful stance, adding to long-standing allegations of political interference with the court.

Duch himself claims to be a scapegoat, the only one selected from hundreds if not thousands of other Khmer Rouge of similar profile or standing to face trial. "S-21 was not unique. It was like all the other security centers where torture was employed", he said on Wednesday at the closing of his appeal hearing.

According to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, "allegations of political interference have also caused uncertainty over the likelihood of further indictments beyond Case 002, complicating the development of a completion strategy for the tribunal."

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge member, has made public his reluctance to have senior colleagues testify in Case 002. Previously, the pre-trial Chamber's international judges claimed "reason to believe that one or more members of the RGC (Royal Cambodian Government) may have knowingly and willfully interfered with witnesses." Sadly, with growing doubts over the trial of the mainly octogenerian Khmer Rouge leaders, Cambodia's tragic and traumatic drama may not be over yet.

PHNOM PENH - Foreign men who are older than 50 and any foreign man who earns less than US$2,500 per month will no longer be allowed to marry Cambodian women, according to new marriage regulations introduced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The strict new rules, issued on March 7, aim to curb surging human trafficking often facilitated under the guise of marriage. According to ministry spokesman Koy Kuong, the regulations will discourage local marriages in which a foreign husband and local wife look like "a grandfather and a granddaughter".

"We want Cambodian women who get married to foreigners living abroad to have a decent life," Kuong said. "We want to have [a] real couple. If [the foreign husband and Cambodian wife are] very much different in age, it's showing [that it's] not a real marriage."

The new regulations were issued in response to a recent rapid increase in the number of foreign nationals, particularly South Koreans, who have married and subsequently abused Cambodian women, Kuong said.

Across the region, including in the Philippines and Thailand, there has been a proliferation of elderly foreign men marrying much younger local women. While human trafficking is a problem in both those countries, where thousands of foreign men have settled into genuine relationships, neither has implemented outright bans on cross-cultural marriages.

South Koreans are particularly active in the mail-order bride business, which is often a thinly veiled guise for human trafficking. In 2009, the majority of foreign brides came from China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Because of Cambodia's comparatively smaller population, the trade is more noticeable. In certain villages of Kampong Cham province, for instance, nearly all young women have been married to foreigners.

Last year, Cambodia temporarily banned Cambodian women from marrying South Koreans in particular after police caught brokers trafficking 20 or so rural Cambodian women. In 2008, the government outlawed all foreign marriages but lifted the ban six months later. There have been several scandals recently involving marriages between young Cambodian women and older South Korean men.

Last month, Korean authorities filed charges against a man who murdered his Cambodian wife to collect $1 million from a life insurance policy. According to the Korean newspaper Joong Ang Daily, the 45-year-old Korean husband fed his 20-year-old Cambodian wife sleeping pills before setting their house on fire. Prior to the event, he took out six life insurance policies on her.

Currently, around 20,000 Cambodian women are married to Korean men living in South Korea, according to Pung Chhiv Kek, president of the Cambodia-based League for the Protection of Human Rights (LICADHO). Many of these marriages, she says, are arranged through so-called recruiters.

"The recruiter goes to the countryside and chooses the women like cattle," she said. "Then men from Korea come and you have a line of girls - well dressed because a recruiter sends them to the hairdresser and gets them nice clothes. A man comes, chooses a girl and pays a recruiter."

To be sure, some of these arranged marriages work out; many others, however, lead to abuse and servitude. "If she's not lucky, he uses her as a slave or sometimes pushes her into prostitution," Kek said. She recalls a phone call she received from one Cambodian woman who married a South Korean man and was required to "serve" his whole family.

An employee at the South Korean Embassy in Phnom Penh said the embassy had received frequent calls "from old men in Korea who want to get married" since the new marriage regulations were issued. Many Korean men arrange marriages with Cambodian women "through their relatives or friends" without visiting the country themselves, said the embassy employee, who did not give her name.

The new regulations will not apply to foreign women who wish to marry Cambodian men, and do not make provisions for special cases - such as a marriage between an elderly Cambodian woman and a foreign man close to her age. When asked about a hypothetical scenario in which a 51-year-old foreign man wishes to marry a 50-year-old Cambodian woman, Kuong said he "has no comment right now". The 50 year old cut-off was chosen because it's close to the retirement age, Kuong said.

"A very old man who retired from work and is jobless and marries a very young wife from Cambodia is similar to human trafficking," he said. "We don't want our Cambodian women working as a slave for the family."

While the restrictions may help to curb trafficking, they'll also break up genuine love connections.

A 67-year-old retired Frenchman who lives in Cambodia's capital tells the story about how he first saw his 32-year-old girlfriend's eyes in the rear view mirror of a car. The woman could not speak a word of French, but they understood each other without words, he says. Now they have a baby together and he would have liked to officially marry the mother of his child to give her the security of French citizenship, but now he won't be able to.

"Women are the ones who will suffer" from these new marriage rules, he said.

Malen Kim, a Cambodian airport employee who two years ago married an American man, suggested that the $2,500 monthly income requirement will in many cases be too high for a husband of Vietnamese or Chinese origin - and for most foreigners who work in Cambodia.

While most countries set a minimum age for marriage, Cambodia may be the first in the world to outlaw older foreigners from marrying younger locals. Local activists say the only similar example appears to be Jordan, which requires court permission if a girl under 18 wishes to marry a man who is older than her by 20 years or more.

Representatives of Cambodian non-governmental organizations complain that the marriage regulations discriminate not only against older foreign men, but also against all Cambodian women. Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, recently wrote a letter to a local English-language daily to express his disagreement from a rights perspective with the new marriage rules.

In the letter, he noted that the Cambodian government already prevented foreigners who are impotent or suffer from a number of diseases, including tuberculosis and cancer, from marrying Cambodian women. The choice about whom to marry should be up to the woman, not the government, he said.

"If a poor woman has no way out - who am I to judge that she should not marry an older man and go into prostitution?" he said. "This law is only limiting the women. It's also coming from the basic mentality that women need to be protected and women are victims ... Their male ego instinct got the better of them."

Kek, the president of LICADHO, said that the rules are unfair to women and violate the international Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, to which Cambodia is a signatory.

"This is discrimination against women," she said. "Cambodian men can marry any person; they can marry a woman over 50 if they want. Why ban only Cambodian women?"

Addressing those criticisms, spokesman Kuong summed up the government's line: "Women are weaker than men, so we try to protect the weakest first. It is our right to protect our people."

THAILAND - HOUSE speaker Chai Chidchob said on Thursday that he might be unable to convene a parliamentary session to consider the minutes of previous meetings in time.

'We need to wait for official notification from the constitution court and notify members three days in advance of the meeting,' he said. 'I don't yet know when we will be ready for the meeting.'

Mr Chai initially called a session to consider the JBC's meeting minutes on April 5.

The issue was complicated as a group of lawmakers led by the ruling Democrat Party's Sirichok Sopha appealed to the constitution court to rule on the need for Parliament to consider the JBC documents. The court on Wednesday rejected the request. As the court did not rule, Parliament needs to carry on with consideration of the documents in accordance with article 190 of the constitution, Mr Chai said.

Article 190 requires all documents deemed to be treaties to pass parliamentary approval before the government signs agreements with foreign countries or international organisations.

The JBC met last in April 2009 in Phnom Penh. It cannot convene the next meeting until the Thai parliament approves the minutes of three previous meetings.

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday declared his personal assets to the country's new anti-corruption unit and urged officials to follow his lead in a bid to tackle rampant graft.

'Today, I have fulfilled my obligation under the anti-corruption law,' the premier said as he personally delivered his documents to the unit's headquarters in the capital Phnom Penh.

Although the asset declaration is confidential, Hun Sen told reporters he earned a monthly salary of 4,600,000 riel (S$1,450).

He also encouraged senior government and military officials to follow his example ahead of a deadline next week. 'Don't be hesitant or afraid,' he said.

More than 100,000 state officials and heads of civilian organisations in Cambodia are required to make declarations of property, vehicles, business interests and other assets under the anti-graft law that was approved in 2010.

The confidential declarations will happen in stages and the April 7 deadline only applies to some officials, the anti-corruption unit said in a statement.

By Anonymous

It have yet to see other Cambodian political leaders who are willing to loose everything to fight for Cambodia than Mr. Sam Rainsy.

I am not surprised by the timing of putting out such critical story by Khmerization in attempt to dampen democratic spirit of Sam Rainsy Party members! Since SRP commemorates the 14th Anniversary of 30 March Grenade Attack and Khmerization also put out the critical article of Sam Rainsy Party on 30th March!!The timing couldn't be better because this shows that the Khmerization is taking pro-Hun Sen government stand on land grabbing, corruption, freedom of expression oppression, and workers oppression to demand a living wage, the border issue demarcation with the Vietcong government...

This is not the end of the world for Sam Rainsy Party and if it is true then the Sam Rainsy Party steering committee must make some changes to accommodate those Sam Rainsy Party members who are the most qualified at the same time train and mentor those Sam Rainsy Party members who are less qualified to take leadership! To those Sam Rainsy Party members who have been with the party from beginning in promoting democratic value and they should offer some incentives to stay with the party to have a role as advisor!

Sam Rainsy Party has come a long way and there is no turning back and to the future Cambodian people must look ahead at the bigger picture of how we as Cambodian people can transform Cambodia into more democratic country with stability and prosperity and advancement in all fields of endeavor to make Cambodia a better place and contribute to the world peace!!!!!!
--------------------------
Khmerization's note:

The publication of the Khmerization's article "SRP's Self-Destruction" was not timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 30th March 1997 grenade attack. Khmerization condemn the 1997 grenade attack in the strongest term and any similarity in the timing of the publication of this article is purely coincidental. Khmerization is neither pro-Hun Sen nor pro-Sam Rainsy, Khmerization is pro-democracy and pro-Cambodian national interests. However, Khmerization still believe that the SRP is the better alternative to any parties in Cambodia and Khmerization's criticism of the SRP is not an attempt to discredit it in any way, but is an attempt to present the shortcomings and the other side of the SRP.

Forty-two families in Phnom Penh's Russei Keo district yesterday appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene in the enforcement of a Supreme Court verdict today that will award land in Tuol Sangke commune's Tuol Kork village to a former Funcinpec minister.

Villagers said yesterday that they bought the land from former Preah Vihear provincial governor Meas Savoeun five or six years ago after Meas Savoeun won the land from former Funcinpec minister Khun Haing, now a member of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, and his counterpart Chao Va in a court case.

Villager Van Socheat said that his purchase of the land was recognised by commune authorities.

"I bought that land from Meas Savoeun that recognised by commune authority," said Van Socheat.

Villagers claimed that that Khun Haing had faked documents to obtain the land.

A letter, signed by Russei Keo district governor Klaing Huot and obtained by The Post yesterday, stated that district authorities would cooperate with municipal court prosecutors to enforce the verdict today, but listed Tuol Sangke village instead of Tuol Kork village.

According to a verdict from 2004, Phnom Penh municipal court judge Un Bunna awarded 6,000 square metres of land in Tuol Kork village to Meas Savoeun's wife Tang Chhun Eng.

Tuol Kork village chief Pol Dy said that Meas Savoeun took Khun Haing's land.

"I don't know the skill of court that decided this case for Meas Savoeun to win," said Pol Dy.

Neither Klaing Huot nor Khun Haing could be reached for comment yesterday.

Cambodia must invest $350 million for the next 4 years to order to fulfill the plan to export 1 million tons of rice to the International market in 2015. Hang Chuon Naron, the secretary of state at the ministry of Economy and Finance, told the Phnom Penh Post yesterday, following the "agriculture environment and development" meeting at the Cambodiana Hotel, that in order to export 1 million tons of rice in 2015, Cambodia must invest $350 million. He said that of this sum, $200 million will be used to buy rice and the other $150 million will be used to build a rice modification plant according to standard level.

There was even specualtion that Saif himself may have already left Libya in Mr Koussa's convoy but such a suggestion was dismissed.

The Foreign Office did not comment on the report which asserted that British officials met with Mohammed Ismail.

The meeting was one of a number conducted between the two nations in the last two weeks, according to the Guardian and is believed to have addressed the possibility of an exit strategy for Gaddafi.

Despite a low profile in Libya and internationally, Mr Ismail is a key aide to Saif al-Islam and represented the nation in arms purchase negotiations, cables leaked on the WikiLeaks website have disclosed.

The report comes as David Cameron was put under pressure to ensure that the Libyan defector who arrived in Britain earlier this week co-operates with authorities investigating the Lockerbie bombing, the murder of Pc Yvonne Fletcher and potential war crimes.

Moussa Koussa, the Libyan foreign minister, who fled to Britain on Wednesday, is described as having "electrifying" information on Col Muammar Gaddafi's role in terrorist atrocities across Europe.

The Prime Minister said he would not block any attempts by the police to question Mr Koussa.

Mr Cameron stressed that Mr Koussa had not been offered a deal in return for fleeing to Britain and had not been granted immunity from prosecution. But if the defector is arrested and charged with crimes, it may undermine attempts by Western governments to encourage others in Col Gaddafi's inner circle to flee from Libya, a key aim of current diplomatic efforts.

Mr Koussa may also be reluctant to co-operate fully with British officials if he is not given guarantees about his future.

Last night, the Scottish prosecuting authorities investigating the Lockerbie bombing formally requested access to Mr Koussa, a right-hand man to Col Gaddafi for more than 30 years.

International prosecutors investigating war crimes in Libya are also expected to seek interviews with the defector. Yesterday, the Libyan rebel leadership demanded he be returned to the country to face war-crime charges.

Mr Koussa, who was likened yesterday to Rudolf Hess by a Conservative MP, is being interrogated by MI6 at an unknown location. It is not clear whether information obtained by MI6 will be made public.

Senior Whitehall sources indicated that Scotland Yard was unlikely to get involved "at the moment".

The Libyan foreign minister was identified yesterday by Jack Straw, the former Labour foreign secretary, as a key source for British and American intelligence for more than a decade.

Last night Ali Abdessalam Treki, a Libyan former foreign minister and UN General Assembly president, also defected. Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy UN ambassador, said that most high-level Libyan officials were trying to defect but were having trouble leaving due to tight security. A senior figure at the Libyan Embassy in London also defected.

In other developments yesterday:

• The head of Nato ruled out arming the Libyan rebels less than 24 hours after Mr Cameron admitted that the plan was under consideration. The US defence secretary said that another country, rather than America, should be take charge of "assisting" the rebels.

• America warned that Col Gaddafi was "not about to break", citing reports that regime troops were laying landmines around rebel-held areas.

• British special forces were said to be operating beside the CIA on the ground in Libya despite official denials that land troops were in action.

• The Vatican claimed to have evidence that coalition air strikes had killed dozens of civilians in Tripoli.

• The Libyan government said that Col Gaddafi and his family would remain in Libya "until the end" despite growing speculation they would seek exile.

Last night, details of Mr Koussa's dramatic escape from Libya began to emerge. According to Foreign Office sources, Mr Koussa's arrival was in doubt up until the final few hours before he touched down at Farnborough Airfield in a private jet chartered by the British military.

He told the regime that he was travelling to Tunisia to seek medical treatment for high blood pressure. The British Government was informed that he wished to head to this country but there was concern that he would instead fly on to Italy, another destination he was said to have favoured.

One government source said: "We absolutely did not want to lose him. It was vital that he did not go to Italy."

While Mr Koussa was airborne, Mr Cameron is said to have spoken to American officials and secured their backing for allowing him into Britain.

As well as Lockerbie, officials are keen to question Mr Koussa about links to the IRA. Col Gaddafi is widely suspected of supplying arms to the terrorists at the height of IRA's bombing campaign in the 1980s.

Mr Koussa, who was previously in charge of the Libyan intelligence service has been described as the "master of terror" who was previously expelled from Britain for endorsing the assassination of dissidents in London. Western intelligence has linked him to planning the Lockerbie bombing.

Over the past few months, Mr Cameron has played a leading role in calling for key Gaddafi regime figures to face war-crime trials. The Prime Minister has also spoken of his disgust at the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.

Last night Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, the former Lord Advocate who initiated and oversaw the Lockerbie case, suggested that a "snatch squad" should be sent to Tripoli to try to secure any Libyan papers on the atrocity. He said it was unlikely Mr Koussa had brought documents with him but added that he had always had "dark suspicions" that the bomb plot came from the "heart of government".

"I think we should send in a snatch squad to secure what papers they have before they are shredded," said the Tory peer. Yesterday, at a press conference, Mr Cameron stressed that Mr Koussa would not be offered a "deal".

The Prime Minister said: "Let me be clear, Moussa Koussa is not being granted immunity, there is no deal of that kind.

"And the point I would make about the dreadful events over Lockerbie: that investigation is still open and the police and the prosecuting authorities are entirely independent of government and they should follow their evidence wherever it leads and the Government will assist them in any way possible."

MPs from all political parties yesterday insisted that it was vital that Koussa did not escape justice. Robert Halfon, a Conservative MP who has tabled several parliamentary motions on Lockerbie, said: "I think what has happened is comparable to Rudolf Hess coming here during the Second World War.

"The fact is that this man is most likely a war criminal, allegedly been responsible for the deaths of British citizens, allegedly the organiser of the Lockerbie bombing, he's part of the Gaddafi totalitarian regime and in my view and that of many others he needs to go to the international court to face trials for war crimes."