Thailand deports 6 Cambodian activists facing treason charges over critical Facebook comments

PHNOM PENH (AP) — Six Cambodian activists charged with treason over Facebook comments criticizing their government have been deported from Thailand to stand trial, a pro-democracy group said Thursday.

The Khmer Movement for Democracy, a movement formed by opposition leaders in exile, criticized the decision to return the four women and two men Nov. 24, saying they will face “inhuman and degrading treatment” in Cambodia’s overcrowded prison system.

Thailand and Cambodia are accused by rights groups of having a de facto agreement to return political dissidents wanted by their home country.

The activists — Pen Chan Sangkream, Hong An, Mean Chanthon, Yin Chanthou, Soeung Khunthea and Vorn Chanratana — are associated with the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party, which was dissolved ahead of the 2018 general election as part of a crackdown on the opposition.

The Cambodian People’s Party subsequently won every seat in the National Assembly in an election that returned autocratic leader Hun Sen to power.

Hun Sen ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades until 2023, when he stepped aside to make way for his son, Hun Manet, who was elected prime minister later that year in elections that were criticized internationally as neither free nor fair.

The six activists were charged in August by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court with treason after posting statements critical of the Cambodian government’s involvement in a decades-old regional development agreement with neighboring countries, said Am Sam Ath Operational Director of local rights group, Licadho. He confirmed the six had been deported by the Thai government.

The Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA) agreement was a development plan intended to facilitate