Imprisoned Cambodian American activist Theary Seng has been hospitalized due to a hunger strike. The hospitalization will likely delay the appeal for her release.
A prison department spokesman from Cambodia where Seng is being held told Radio Free Asia that the activist was taken to the hospital on Wednesday.
“We have kept her in the hospital for convenience in case there is an emergency,” Nuth Savana, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry’s prison department told Radio Free Asia. “We continue to monitor her health on a regular basis and if there is an emergency, she is already at the hospital.”
The 52-year-old was sentenced to six years in prison in June 2022 for allegedly plotting and mobilizing people against the Cambodian government from 2018 to 2020, The Khmer Times reports. She was convicted of treason and social disorder.
Many U.S. politicians have been calling for her release. On Wednesday, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the State Department to call for the release of political prisoners in Cambodia, including Seng. The letter was signed by several other lawmakers.
“We are particularly disturbed by the wrongful and unlawful imprisonment of Theary Seng, who received a six-year prison sentence for innocuous posts on Facebook, including one criticizing Hun Sen and another urging him to allow Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Seng’s detention arbitrary, politically motivated, and violative of international law, and called for her immediate and unconditional release,” the letter said.
An appeal hearing to overturn the conviction was scheduled for the Wednesday Seng was hospitalized. It will now be held at a later date.
“In order to find the truth and justice for all the accused in this case, the Judges’ Council also wanted to see the presence of Theary during her hearing and to listen to her answers, the Court has decided to delay the appeal hearing,” Presiding Judge Yun Narong said, according to The Khmer Times.
“The appeal hearing will be re-scheduled and a date will be provided to the accused and her lawyer later,” he added.
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