Cambodian PM urges Thailand to release 2 Khmer women

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday urged Thai government to release two Khmer women who were convicted with death penalty in Thailand as the exchange with two Muslim Thai teachers' release.
"We already released two Muslim Thai teachers (June-July) this year who charged with terrorism plot in country but so far Thailand does not set free two Khmer women as exchange," he said in a scholarship awarding ceremony for 500 students at a university in Phnom Penh.


"When Thai Prime Minister Abhisit visited here in June, he asked me to exchange two prisoners and we agreed but when we released those two Thai (teachers), Thailand has not released two Khmer women yet," he added.
The two Thai religious teachers, Muhammad Yalaluding and Abdul Azi Haji Chiming, from Yala in Thailand were arrested in 2003 with charges of terrorist acts attempting to organize attack on western embassies in Phnom Penh and they were sentenced with life in prison in Khmer prison.
Cambodia and Thailand's relations have soured since July 15, 2008 and further worsening recently after Cambodia appointed former Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra as economic advisor of the government and Prime Minister Hun Sen. Both sides recalled their ambassadors respectively last month.