Cambodian journalist Phon Sopheap is serving a 14-year sentence for treason over his independent reporting on a deadly Thailand-Cambodia border dispute, where both countries have accused the other of violating their international treaty obligations.
Sopheap, a journalist with the local outlet Battambang Post TV Online, was arrested on July 31, 2025, after returning from reporting on a Cambodia-Thailand border dispute in Oddar Meanchey province, according to news reports. Pheap Phara, a reporter with the local TSP 68 TV Online, was arrested separately on the same day.
A statement from the prosecutor’s office released on September 10 and cited in news reports said the journalists had entered a restricted battlefield area to collect information and take photographs.
Sopheap and Phara were convicted in a one-day trial on December 17, 2025, under Section 445 of the criminal code for “supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defense,” according to local news reports citing their lawyer.
Siem Reap court spokesperson Yin Srang said a statement on the convictions would be issued shortly, but declined to answer questions about the ruling, the news reports said. The journalists appealed their convictions on February 16, 2026.
It was not immediately clear which reports prompted the treason charges, but both reporters were photographed before their arrests with Cambodian soldiers in front of a Buddhist temple with what appeared to be unplaced landmines, the new reports said.
Cambodian officials have denied Thai government allegations that Cambodian forces have laid new landmines in contested border areas during recent hostilities, which would represent a violation of Cambodia’s obligations under the Ottawa treaty banning landmines.
The journalists were both being held at Siem Reap Provincial Prison, according to CamboJA, a local press group, and LICADHO, a local rights group whose representative communicated with CPJ on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals.
The Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.