Thayer was a sharp writer, but his sources were what truly set him apart in the post-war media milieu in Phnom Penh, thanks in part to relationships forged through months spent with anti-communist resistance forces along the Thai border earlier in the 1990s.
The ensuing trial and conviction of Rong Chhun, along with two younger activists, highlighted how Cambodia’s government and judiciary have warped criminal incitement charges to suppress dissent amid a crackdown on the ruling party’s critics and political opponents.
U.S. President Joe Biden aired a litany of concerns during his meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday.
In a statement Monday, her lawyers called for her to be transferred to the main prison in Phnom Penh, and asked Biden to use his planned visit to Cambodia on November 12-13 to push for her release.
“From the outset, the authorities repeatedly violated Ms. Seng’s fair trial rights,” the report said, noting that she was named as part of a long list of defendants accused of incitement, without any specific explanation of what she had done.
However, her case represents a unique dilemma for Hun Sen, both because of her U.S. citizenship and her relatively high international profile after two decades running rights groups in the country.
