The Cambodian American community in Massachusetts is rallying around imprisoned Cambodian American activist and lawyer Theary Seng.
50 activists marched to protest the imprisonment of Seng on Sunday.
In June, Seng had been sentenced to a six-years imprisonment in Cambodia for conspiracy to commit treason.
The Sunday rally in Lowell, Massachusetts demanded legislators speak out against the Cambodian regime for both Seng’s and other activists’ “unjust” detainment.
According to The New York Times Seng fled to America after escaping the killing fields of Khmer Rouge. After earning a law degree, she returned to Cambodia in 2004 to be part of its human rights movement.
However, they say Seng became caught in Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s campaign to silence any forms of resistance.
Cambodian National Rescue Party Vice President Sochua Mu organized the protest. She was a political leader in Cambodia before fleeing the country. Mu emphasized the importance of breaking the silence and having a voice.
According to The Sun, Lowell is home to more than 30,000 Cambodian Americans, making this the ideal place to hold a rally.
Democratic state representative candidates Tara Wong and Dominik Lay were also in attendance.
“The protest’s all about trying to push the idea of democracy here in the United States to let people in Cambodia know that there’s people over here supporting you and also against what was going on, as well,” Hong said to The Sun.
Mu said the next step for Congress is to pass the Cambodian Democracy and Human Rights Act of 2022. The act will allow President Joe Biden to “impose targeted sanctions against high-ranking Cambodian officials.”
“We want to break this feeling of fear. We want to make our people get used to expressing themselves again, to remind them that this is not Cambodia. This is Lowell, this is America,” Mu told The Sun.
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