Cambodia defies UN call to free ‘arbitrarily jailed’ environmental activists

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded in February that five Mother Nature Cambodia activists — serving six-to-eight-year sentences for allegedly plotting against the government — were arbitrarily detained, with no legal basis for their arrests and a trial the group said should never have happened. Cambodia was asked to act within six months and provide evidence; six months later, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Mongabay the activists are staying put.

The spokesperson, Chan Rothona, declined to share the government's formal response beyond a photo of its cover page, and instead directed the outlet to a constitutional article about the king's ceremonial role. The trial itself consisted of five hearings totaling roughly 22 hours, with only half the defendants present and no public or press access.

Mother Nature Cambodia has spent years documenting land grabs, illegal logging, and dam-related corruption, which appears to be precisely the resume that lands you in prison under Hun Sen's decades of rule and now his son Hun Manet's continuation of it. Advocates say pressure will mount ahead of a November summit in Phnom Penh, though the UN body itself has no enforcement teeth.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.