Associated Press Wire Photograph – Khmer Rouge Mass Execution Site near Phnom Penh, Cambodia – 1981

Description

An original Associated Press wire photograph issued in April 1981 documenting one of the mass execution sites associated with the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.

The photograph shows a large number of human skulls and skeletal remains uncovered at Choeung Ek, near Phnom Penh, one of the most infamous killing fields linked to the atrocities committed during the rule of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. The accompanying Associated Press caption notes that authorities were continuing to uncover fresh remains and records that many victims had been bound before execution. The image was produced shortly after the fall of the regime and forms part of the earliest international photographic documentation of evidence emerging from Cambodia’s mass graves.

Historically, this is a highly significant press photograph. Choeung Ek became one of the principal symbols of the Cambodian genocide, in which an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people died through execution, forced labour, starvation and disease. Original contemporary wire photographs documenting the discovery and investigation of these sites are important primary-source records of one of the twentieth century’s most devastating human rights catastrophes.

Produced for newspaper distribution by Associated Press and preserved within the photographic archive of the Shields Gazette, the photograph retains strong provenance as a working newsroom image from a major international news agency.

Condition

Very good condition. Minor edge wear, creasing and handling marks consistent with newsroom use. Archive stamp to reverse.

Agency: Associated Press
Date: 16 April 1981
Size: 20.8 x 26.6 cm
Medium: Original wire photograph
Photographer: Not named
Provenance: Shields Gazette photographic archive
Subject: Cambodia, Khmer Rouge, Choeung Ek, Killing Fields, Cambodian Genocide, Human Rights History

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