{"id":115645,"date":"2017-09-02T22:49:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-03T02:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=115645"},"modified":"2017-09-02T22:49:13","modified_gmt":"2017-09-03T02:49:13","slug":"cambodia-arrests-opposition-leader-alleging-treason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/02\/cambodia-arrests-opposition-leader-alleging-treason\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambodia arrests opposition leader, alleging treason"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cambodia<\/a>
Cambodia Flag (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Police arrested the leader of Cambodia’s main opposition party in a surprise raid on his home in the capital early Sunday, and the government issued a statement accusing him of treason.<\/p>\n

The arrest of Kem Sokha dealt a major blow to the opposition ahead of elections due next year and was sure to raise political tensions in the volatile Southeast Asian country.<\/p>\n

The move comes amid a push by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the world’s longest serving rulers, to shutter critical news outlets in what analysts say is a bid to strengthen its position before the 2018 vote.<\/p>\n

Kem Sokha was taken away in handcuffs after a force of between 100 to 200 officers arrived at his Phnom Penh home around midnight, according his daughter, Monovithya Kem, who is also a member of his Cambodia National Rescue Party.<\/p>\n

Monovithya Kem said on Twitter that police showed no warrant for her father’s arrest. She said later that his whereabouts were unknown.<\/p>\n

His Cambodia National Rescue Party said the arrest violated the constitution because Kem Sokha has parliamentary immunity and called on the government to release him.<\/p>\n

In an official statement issued after the arrest, the government said it had obtained a video clip and other evidence indicating \u201csecret plans of a conspiracy between Kem Sokha … and foreigners to harm the Kingdom of Cambodia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement gave no details but called the actions \u201ctreason.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration of Hun Sen, an authoritarian leader who has held a tight grip on power for more than three decades, has put increasing legal pressure on its critics, the media and political opponents ahead of national elections due in July.<\/p>\n

Legal threats forced Kem Sokha’s predecessor, Sam Rainsy, to resign this year from the Cambodia National Rescue Party that he had led.<\/p>\n

John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said the arrest was \u201can extremely disturbing development and a setback for democracy in Cambodia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government’s charges lack credibility, given its long record of misusing its legal system to silence or intimidate critics and political opponents,\u201d Sifton said.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Police arrested the leader of Cambodia’s main opposition party in a surprise raid on his home …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":109857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[399,22700],"class_list":["post-115645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","tag-cambodia","tag-kem-sokha","mauthors-todd-pitman","mauthors-sopheng-cheang","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}