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Two Cambodian journalists serving 14 years in jail on espionage-related costs requested the Supreme Court docket on Friday to throw out the case that press freedom teams have condemned.
Phorn Sopheap and Pheap Pheara, reporters for TSP 68 TV On-line, had been convicted of supplying a international state with data prejudicial to nationwide protection, a treason offense punishable by seven to fifteen years in jail.
The journalists had been arrested in July 2025 after being photographed with Cambodian troops close to a frontline place following border clashes with Thailand. The picture allegedly confirmed landmines within the background and was later circulated by Thai media.
The journalists had been convicted in September and despatched to a jail in Siem Reap province. Their imprisonment got here earlier than a wave of detentions that noticed different journalists detained for reporting on border tensions and on-line rip-off operations, prompting concern from rights teams.
Sopheap and Pheara instructed the courtroom that they had no intention of offering data to a international state or harming Cambodia’s nationwide protection, their lawyer, Un Chanthol, later instructed reporters who had been barred from attending the listening to.
Chanthol urged the Supreme Court docket to dismiss the costs or scale back them to the lesser offense of “intentional or unintentional disclosure of nationwide protection secrets and techniques” below Article 479 of Cambodia’s Felony Code.
He additionally requested the courtroom to droop their jail sentences pending a ultimate ruling.
The Supreme Court docket is scheduled to announce its verdict on June 25, Chanthol stated.
Exterior the courtroom in Phnom Penh, Promenade Yorn, Sopheap’s mom, fought again tears as she denied that her son had betrayed the nation or handed data to international entities.
She described him as a journalist who frequently reported on social points and stated any mistake he might have made was unintentional. She appealed to the courtroom to drop the costs in opposition to each males.
“I urge the courtroom and the federal government to point out leniency towards my son as a result of he didn’t do that deliberately,” she stated. “He has been separated from his spouse and youngsters, and we’re getting outdated. Please launch my son.”
Sopheap’s spouse, Hong Tha, echoed her mother-in-law’s attraction.
“He has turn into thinner than earlier than. He is an efficient journalist,” she stated. “I hope the leaders and the courtroom will assist scale back this sentence as a result of my husband is a delicate individual.”
Info Ministry spokesperson Tep Asnarith stated journalists “should distinguish between journalism and nationwide safety” and keep away from actions that violate the legislation.
“On the similar time, whereas journalists take pleasure in the precise to freedom of expression, the legislation additionally units clear boundaries and strictly prohibits the dissemination of data that might have an effect on nationwide safety, political stability and nationwide protection,” he stated.
He stated the ministry had offered assist and intervened earlier than and in the course of the authorized course of.
Press freedom in Cambodia has eroded sharply over the previous decade, based on rights teams together with Reporters With out Borders, which ranks the nation 151st out of 181 international locations on its World Press Freedom Index.
Greater than 30 folks, together with political and social activists and journalists, had been arrested between mid-2025 and early 2026 over social media posts associated to the Cambodia-Thailand border dispute.
Sorn Sarath, analysis and advocacy supervisor on the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Affiliation, stated the 14-year sentences had been the harshest penalties ever imposed on Cambodian journalists.
He known as on the Supreme Court docket to think about the attraction.
