The Human Rights Watch has called on the Cambodian government to stop arresting and detaining former opposition party members after the government confirmed the arrest of at least 52 opposition activists and former officials. Political barometer has been rising in Cambodia after opposition leader Sam Rainsy said he will return to the country on November 9, following a four-year exile.
“The dozens of politically motivated arrests over the past three months demonstrate that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government has no intention of lifting the heavy-handed repression that has darkened Cambodia in recent years,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said. “Foreign governments and donors should loudly call for an end to this wave of arrests and press Cambodia to immediately and unconditionally release all those wrongfully detained for criticizing the government,” Robertson added.
