2 Cambodian journalists appeal treason convictions over a photo from Thai border clash

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Two Cambodian journalists have appealed their convictions on treason charges and 14-year prison sentences for posting photographs on Facebook related to border clashes with Thailand last year, the spouse of one and a court official said Friday.

Phorn Sopheap of Battambang Post TV Online and Pheap Pheara of TSP 68 TV Online were arrested in separate locations on July 31 while returning from reporting trips. Authorities say they took photographs in a restricted military zone, and one showed land mines, which appeared to discredit official Cambodian denials of using such weapons.

They were convicted and sentenced by the Siem Reap Provincial Court in December on charges of “supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defense.” Treason convictions carry prison sentences of seven to 15 years.

Cambodia ranked 161st out of 180 countries and territories on the 2025 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, “placing it among the states where the press freedom situation is considered ’very serious,'” according to the Paris-based organization.

“Cambodian authorities must not challenge Pheap Phara and Phorn Sopheap’s appeal against these outrageous convictions and should stop using vague national security laws to criminalize legitimate reporting,” Shawn Crispin, the senior Southeast Asia representative for New-York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement Friday.

The Cambodia rights group Licadho said that according to information released by the Siem Reap court in September, the charges were related to Facebook posts the men made while they were covering clashes between Cambodia and Thailand.

The two were arrested on suspicion of gathering information and taking photographs in a prohibited military zone near a battlefield, with the court claiming their actions could undermine national defense, according to the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association.

The image was widely republished by Thai media outlets, which alleged that it showed several unplanted land mines in the background.

Cambodia had officially denied using land mines in the conflict, saying it adhered to international agreements banning their use. Thailand accused it of placing fresh mines along the border that wounded patrolling Thai soldiers, while Cambodian authorities said the mines might have been left over from decades of conflict that ended in the late 1990s.

Om Sarath, the wife of Pheap Pheara, told The Associated Press that her husband had no intention of doing anything to endanger national security.

“It’s unfair to my husband, as he just took gifts to distribute to the front-line soldiers and took a photo with them as a souvenir without knowing that there was a land mine in the background," she said in a phone call from her home in the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey. "If he had known that the photo he took with the front-line soldiers was in a restricted area, then he might not have published it.”

She said she had filed an appeal though a lawyer on Monday and hopes a higher court would find justice for her husband and acquit him and Phorn Sopheap.

Yin Srang, a spokesperson of the Siem Reap Provincial Court, confirmed the 14-year prison terms given the two men and said the families of both had filed appeals.

The border fighting in July and December displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Thailand and Cambodia and killed about 100 soldiers and civilians. There has been no new fighting since a December ceasefire though tensions remain high.