Singapore Airlines blocks Cambodian opposition figure from returning home

National Rescue Party vice-president Mu Sochua said she was stopped from boarding her flight from Los Angeles because she didn’t have a Cambodian visa

She is one of dozens of opposition party members who face trial on treason charges, and she had announced she was returning to take part in the trial

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Cambodia National Rescue Party vice-president Mu Sochua said her Cambodian passport was revoked in 2019. Photo: AP

Published: 8:22pm, 17 Jan 2021Updated: 8:22pm, 17 Jan 2021

An effort by a self-exiled senior member of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party to lead a return to her homeland on Sunday has failed after an airline refused to carry her.

The thwarted plan to return represented the second attempt by party leaders to rejoin the political struggle at home. In November 2019, Sam Rainsy, the party’s co-founder, sought to return from exile with several colleagues but was blocked by the government. He has been in exile since 2016 to avoid serving a prison sentence for a defamation conviction that he insists was politically motivated.

Party vice-president Mu Sochua said Saturday that Singapore Airlines did not allow her to board a flight from Los Angeles that would have taken her to Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, after transiting in Singapore.

She said on a live broadcast on Facebook that the airline told her she could not board because she did not have a visa for Cambodia. Mu Sochua holds dual Cambodian-US citizenship, but travels on her US passport because her Cambodian one was revoked by Cambodia’s government in 2019. She was also one of the party leaders who was blocked from returning in 2019.

Cambodian government officials recently said they would not allow the opposition party to have valid travel documents to return.

It was not immediately clear if other party members who had planned to return with Mu Sochua had completed the journey.

Mu Sochua is one of about 150 opposition party members and supporters who are facing trial on treason charges, and she had announced she was returning to take part in the trial. Cambodian law allows people to be tried and sentenced in absentia.