A prominent international human rights watchdog has called on the Cambodian government to allow exiled opposition leaders to return to their homeland and freely resume political activities
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th November, 2019) A prominent international human rights watchdog has called on the Cambodian government to allow exiled opposition leaders to return to their homeland and freely resume political activities.
Sam Rainsy, a founder of the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), has lived in France since 2015 to avoid jail for anti-government activities. The politician recently announced that he would return to Cambodia on November 9. In recent years, Cambodian authorities have arrested dozens of suspected CNRP activists and others on various charges, including plotting against the state,
Following Rainsy's announcement, Cambodia deployed troops along its borders, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen repeatedly said that arrest warrants for the opposition leader were sent to neighboring countries. Relevant orders were also sent to commercial airline companies to prevent Rainsy's boarding. The prime minister of Thailand said that his country will not allow Rainsy to transit through the kingdom. CNRP Vice-President Mu Sochua was denied entry in Bangkok on October 20 and sent back to Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur.
"After banning the opposition and staging sham trials to convict Sam Rainsy, now Prime Minister Hun Sen is blocking Rainsy's return to the country. This is the culmination of three months of aggressive harassment, arrests, and attacks on the CNRP and its members, which is really about preventing the restoration of multi-party democracy in Cambodia," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said, as quoted in the press release.
The watchdog called it "ridiculous" that the Cambodian government is treating the opposition, which has always engaged in nonviolence, as a military threat.
"Sam Rainsy and other opposition leaders have the right under international law to return home and engage in peaceful political activities," Adams added.
On Wednesday, media reported that Cambodia's opposition is mobilizing the country's nationals working in the border provinces of Thailand to join a mass protest against the government planned for Saturday
The Cambodian authorities accuse Rainsy of preparing a coup and conducting anti-state activities in the interests of foreign states, including the United States. The opposition leader said he was ready to risk "imprisonment or death" to oust Sen and hoped his return would trigger a powerful popular movement.
