Two Cambodian journalists have appealed their treason convictions and 14-year prison sentences for posting photographs on Facebook related to border clashes with Thailand last year, a court official and the spouse of one said on Friday.
Phorn Sopheap of Battambang Post TV Online and Pheap Pheara of TSP 68 TV Online were arrested on 31 July while returning from reporting trips. Authorities accused them of taking photographs in a restricted military zone; one image showed land mines, which appeared to contradict official denials that Cambodia had used such weapons.
The Siem Reap Provincial Court convicted them in December of “supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defence”. Treason carries a prison term of seven to 15 years.
Om Sarath, Pheap Pheara’s wife, said her husband had no intention of harming national security. “He just took gifts to distribute to the front-line soldiers and took a photo with them as a souvenir without knowing that there was a land mine in the background,” she told the Associated Press.
Cambodia ranked 161st out of 180 countries in the 2025 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. Shawn Crispin of the Committee to Protect Journalists called for the authorities not to challenge the appeal and to stop using vague national security laws to criminalise legitimate reporting.
