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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Fiona Kelliher

The Friday wives: how a quiet picket grew to push for change in Cambodia

Cambodia's 'Friday Wives' leader Prum Chantha (with hands clasped together) speaks with a representative from the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia's 'Friday wives' leader Prum Chantha (left) speaks to a representative from the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Fiona Kelliher

The night that six Cambodian police officers dragged Prum Chantha’s teenage son out of their home for criticising the government in a group chat, she was so distraught that her neighbours insisted on sleeping on her floor to watch over her.

Her husband was already one of more than 100 activists and politicians charged with alleged treason or incitement against Cambodia’s ruling party. Now Kak Sovannchhay, a 16-year-old with autism whose crime was defending his father on Telegram, would join him in Prey Sar prison.

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