PHNOM PENH (Bywire News) -Cambodia officials have demanded that the American media outlet, VICE, retracts an article published on Friday. The article in question features photos of the Khmer Rouge victims, also known as the "killing fields" victims, Cambodia called the photos insulting as some have been edited to add fake smiles.
On Sunday, by 12:00 GMT the article was no longer accessible through the VICE website.
Artist Matt Loughrey explained his logic behind the article published on Friday was to help humanise the 14,000 Cambodian victims that were executed at the infamous Tuol Sleng prison. He had hoped to achieve this by colourising the images.
Once the article reached social media it was quickly criticised. Comparisons were made with the original black and white photographs, which showed that the new images edited by Loughrey had smiles edited onto the victim's faces. The original images were not included in the VICE article.
Exiled Cambodian politician Mu Sochua tweeted, "To play around by using technology to put make-up on the victims of S21 … is a very grave insult to the souls of the victims of #genocide."
A statement was issued by Cambodia's Ministry of Culture demanding both VICE and Loughrey to remove the photos.
The ministry said, "We urge researchers, artists and the public not to manipulate any historical source to respect the victims."
Loughrey declined to comment on the matter when contacted but has previously claimed to have closely worked with the families of the victims to help restore the images.
When contacted for a comment VICE also did not respond. But shortly after the article was removed it said, "It has been brought to our attention that the restored portraits published in this article were modified beyond colorization. We are reviewing the article and considering further actions to correct the record."
Director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, Youk Chhang, said the modifications were similar to rewriting history. An online petition that was launched to help take the article down had thousands of signatures.
Between 1975 to 1979, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died under the extremist rule of the Khmer Rouge.
(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Writing by Kay Johnson and Klaudia Fior; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)