Two anti-government activists in Cambodia were charged in court Wednesday with insulting the king and inciting to commit a crime over comments they made on social media about Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Norodom Sihamoni.
Yim Sinorn and Hun Kosal, both associated with the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was dissolved by court order in 2017, could face up to seven years in prison if convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.
The two men were arrested after Hun Sen, who has held power for 38 years, said he was offended by their comments online about watching a television broadcast on Tuesday of him and the king attending a lighting ceremony of torches for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, which Cambodia will host in May.
Hun Sen claimed that his comments about how he interacted with the king implied that he was showing disrespect and usurping the king’s status. He accused the two of trying to drive a wedge between him and the monarch, who is head of state but has no real political power.
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Speaking at a graduation ceremony in the capital Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said he did not make any disrespectful signs or gestures and told all television stations to play the video of the ceremony for the Cambodian people to see and do their own judgments.
“Why did you have bad intentions against us? What is your real purpose?” asked Hun Sen. He charged that the comments were intentional and slanderous, and he would not forgive them.
The actions against the two activists drew criticism from New York-based Human Rights Watch.
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“Freedom of expression is dying under Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government as national elections approach in July. Simply sharing opinions on Facebook about a government ceremony should not be considered a crime, so that the truth is that political activists Yim Sinorn and Hun Kosal did nothing for which they should be arrested,” said Phil Robertson, the group’s deputy Asia director. in a statement.
Robertson said the two activists “are likely to face a lengthy period of detention followed by a kangaroo trial on trumped up and politically motivated charges”. He called for his immediate and unconditional release.
Earlier this month, prominent opposition leader Kem Sokha was convicted of treason and sentenced to 27 years under house arrest, another blow in a long line of blows in a government campaign to silence his critics or expel them from the country.
The arrest of Kem Sokha in September 2017 marked the beginning of a fierce campaign by Hun Sen’s government to use the courts, widely seen as under its influence, in a crackdown on dissent. Since then, most of the government’s leading critics have fled Cambodia to escape what were generally seen as politically motivated prosecutions.
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