Phnom Penh legislators approved a law on Monday which will allow the government to strip Cambodian citizenship from people found guilty of having plotted with foreign governments against national interest.
Approved by 120 of the 125 members of the National Assembly, the measure was made possible by a modification of the Cambodia Constitution that the legislators adopted in July. The measure must be approved by the Senate and signed by the King to be fully promulgated.
The adoption of the bill comes in the midst of a broader repression against opponents of the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet. On Sunday, a group of 50 Cambodian non -governmental organizations published a statement saying that the “vaguely labeled” measure “will have a disastrous frightening effect on the freedom of expression of all Cambodian citizens”.
“This would undermine each legal protection for speech, the association and the assembly currently devoted in Cambodian law,” said groups. “The government has many powers, but they should not have the power to decide arbitrarily who is and is not Cambodian.”
Before the vote, the Cambodian Minister of the Interior, Sar Sokha, developed the measure as important to stimulate patriotism in Cambodia in the midst of high tensions with Thailand on their disputed border. “A small handful” of Cambodian citizens jeopardize this patriotism, he said, and “should no longer be called Cambodian citizens”.
If the bill becomes law, the revocations would be led by a committee established at the request of Sokha.
Includes the reports of the Associated Press, Reuters and Agency France-Press.