The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the decision of the Appeal Court in the case of two Bangladeshi men and a Nepalese man who were convicted of terrorism for sending letters to the U.S., British and Australian embassies in April 2010 that claimed four al-Qaida-linked terrorists in Phnom Penh intended to bomb the diplomatic missions.
In 2011, the men—Bangladeshi nationals Miah Mahammad Huymayun Kabir, 60, and Rafigul Islam, and Nepalese national D.P. Paudyal, 48—were sentenced to eight years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, a verdict that was upheld by the Appeal Court the following year.
Speaking by telephone Wednedsay, Presiding Judge Khim Pon confirmed that the Supreme Court also decided to uphold the decision, but declined to comment further. Sam Sokong, a lawyer for Mr. Paudyal, said the court’s decision was founded on an erroneous comparison of his client’s handwriting to the script in the letter.
“I think that the Supreme Court’s decision is not correct because the Supreme Court sentenced my client and the other two defendants based on only an anonymous letter,” he said.
“They are not the people who wrote the letter.” Peung Yok Hiep, a lawyer for Mr. Kabir, accused the court of failing to properly investigate the case.
