Thread: Cambodia charges six activists deported from Thailand with treason

Cambodia has charged six political activists deported from Thailand on with treason in what their relatives and supporters called a case of cross-border persecution, according to Radio Free Asia.


On November 24, a total of seven people were sent back from Thailand, including a 7-year-old grandson of one activist, who was released to family members upon returning to Cambodia. They had fled to Thailand in 2022.


RFA reported that the six were Pen Chan Sangkream, Hong An, Mean Chanthon, Yin Chanthou and Soeung Khunthea and Vorn Chanratchana.
They were all members or supporters of the one-time opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party, or CNRP, which was banned in 2017.


They are being held in three separate Cambodian prisons, Kheang Sonadin, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons, told RFA last Tuesday..


“These six people were detained under the arrest warrant of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ... for treason as stipulated in the Criminal Code of the Kingdom of Cambodia,” he said.


Hong An’s daughter, Sean Sinuon, branded the arrest and deportation of her mother and other refugees from Thailand to Cambodia a barbaric act.
“Their arrest is a forced arrest, a denial of their right to speak and express their opinions,” she said. “I urge the government and the courts to quickly release them because they have done nothing wrong.”


Radio Free Asia could not reach Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman Y Rin for comment on the case.


Of the activists, Pen Chansangkream and Hong An were previously imprisoned in 2021 on charges of incitement in connection with protests demanding that the government of former Prime Minister Hun Sen address social injustice.


After their release, they remained committed to their opposition party and decided to flee to Thailand for safety.

Cambodia charges six activists deported from Thailand with t

I would say the Thai government should hang its head in shame but it doesn't even know what that is.