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2w ago

Cambodia’s Supreme Court Upholds 14-Year Prison Terms for Two Journalists

Rights groups say the ruling demonstrates how vague national security laws are used to criminalize routine reporting and raises fresh questions about the courts’ independence.

Cambodian Buddhist monks walk in front of the Supreme Court in Phnom Penh on June 25, 2026.

Overview

  • The Supreme Court rejected the journalists’ final appeal on Thursday, June 25, 2026, leaving in place 14-year sentences first handed down by a Siem Reap court in December.
  • Pheap Phara and Phorn Sopheap were arrested in July 2025 after posting a Facebook photo taken at Ta Krabei temple in a military-restricted border zone between Cambodia and Thailand.
  • The men were convicted under a treason-related charge for “supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defence,” a finding that prosecutors say was tied to images, including one showing landmines that were widely republished by Thai media.
  • International and local press freedom groups have condemned the decision as an example of vague security laws being used to punish independent reporting and have warned it undermines judicial independence.
  • The case comes against a backdrop of deadly Cambodia–Thailand border clashes in 2025, continued tensions despite a December ceasefire, and broader concerns that legal pressure is silencing critics and independent media in Cambodia.