A Cambodian has become the first person to be convicted in the country over a social media post.
A 24-year-old university student, Kong Raya, was sentenced to 18 months in jail on Tuesday, after being found guilty of inciting crimes with an anti-government post he made on Facebook, a Phnom Penh court said.
A translated version of Raya's post, made on Aug. 7, 2015, reportedly read: "Does anyone dare to make a colour revolution with me? One day, in the future, I will make a colour revolution to change the regime for Khmer society, and even if I’m jailed or killed, I will still make it."
Cambodia Daily quoted the political science undergrad outside the courtroom after the verdict, who said he would appeal the decision. "This is nothing unusual for the courts in Cambodia. It is just like this," he said, presumably referring to the length of the sentence.
"This is not only unjust for me, but also unjust for the entire Cambodian people,” Raya said.
A "colour revolution" is an umbrella term used to refer to civil resistance movements in history. Cambodia's government has cracked down hard on protests in recent years from opposition parties. The country's leader, Hun Sen, marked his 30th anniversary in office last year, and has been the subject of criticism from global organisations like Human Rights Watch, which portray him as a iron-fisted leader with an oppressive grip over the country.
Raya, a political science undergrad, was arrested back in August last year when he arrived for class at Khemarak University. Although his post threatened an uprising, he did not outline how he would mount his plan.
Critics of the arrest also say his punishment was disproportionate, since he did not garner any support for his cause, nor did he successfully persuade anyone to join him. "It is just the expression of an idea, and that is not a crime," an activist at Cambodian nonprofit group Licadho, was quoted saying.
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