Cambodia court sends 11 land rights activists - including old lady, monk - to jail over protests

Published on Jan 26, 2015

Cambodian woman Nget Khun, 75, crying at a police van window at the appeals court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Jan 26, 2015. -- PHOTO: EPA

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - A Cambodian court on Monday upheld convictions for 11 land activists involved in protests last year while marginally reducing most of their sentences, as rights groups decried the latest strike against freedom of expression.

Last November, 10 female activists - including a 75-year-old woman - and a defrocked Buddhist monk were each sentenced to a year in prison for blocking traffic or obstructing the work of officials during protests in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia's Appeal Court upheld the guilty verdicts but reduced eight of the activists' jail terms to 10 months, while the sentence for the eldest campaigner - Nget Khun, known locally as "Mommy" - was cut to six months.

The one-year sentences for prominent rights activist Tep Vanny and the monk were upheld. "They are housewives and mothers who need to take care of their children, so receive some reduction (to their sentences)," Judge Nguon Im told the court.