Cambodia criminalises criticism of king with lèse-majesté law, sparking fears of Hun Sen’s worsening crackdown on dissent
Until now it has been legal to criticise the kingdom’s largely symbolic monarchy, unlike neighbouring Thailand
Cambodia’s government on Friday approved the country’s first lèse-majesté law handing a five-year sentence to anyone found guilty of insulting the king, a move rights groups fear will be used to target dissent.
Unlike neighbouring Thailand where royal defamation often results in decades in jail, Cambodia’s largely symbolic monarchy was not until now shielded from criticism.
The law was adopted during a cabinet meeting chaired by premier Hun Sen, an authoritarian leader who is poised to extend his tenure at elections in July after dissolving the opposition and driving many of his critics into self-exile.
The new law, which bans insulting Cambodia’s constitutional monarch King Norodom Sihamoni, was added to the criminal code to “uphold and to protect the reputation and royal name”, government spokesman Phay Siphan wrote in a Facebook post.