Cambodia’s top opposition leader is vowing to keep a promise to return and lead demonstrations against the country’s long-time authoritarian leader after he was barred from boarding a flight to Southeast Asia.
Sam Rainsy, self-exiled head of the now-banned Cambodia National Rescue Party, says he was not allowed to get on a Thai Airways flight from Paris to Bangkok on Thursday, despite having purchased a ticket.
“They said they have received from very high up the instruction not to allow me to board,” he told reporters at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. “I’m very shocked, I’m very disappointed. I want to go back, my people are waiting for me.”
