By Khim Sarang
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Ek Sitha, a former Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) activist who was accused of participating in the formation of a shadow government with SRP MP Cheam Channy, said that 80 Khmer Kampuchea Krom people and Jaray (ethnic minority) people who escaped Ratanakkiri province, as well as a number of other SRP activists who took refuge in Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi province, Thailand, including 20 children, have been arrested by the Thai authority on Tuesday morning at 9:30 AM. They were accused of living in Thailand illegally.
Ek Sitha said: “They arrested altogether 80 people exactly, including both the Jaray and Khmer people. We cannot tell you all their names because about 15 minutes after I left, they (the Thai authority) arrived to make the arrest. Among the 80 arrested, 20 of them are children.”
Ek Sitha who escaped the arrest, talked to RFA’s Lim Pisith, from Ayutthaya province. He indicated that Nhem Sivorn, his wife, and Vin Mardi, his 10-year-old daughter, are among those arrested by the Thai authority. Ek Sitha said about the Khmer and Khmer Krom people arrested that: “In our area, except for Thach Cheng … and Kieng Samorn…, everybody else, including my family, my daughter, are accused of living illegally, we don’t have sufficient paperwork to live [in Thailand] because the UN (UNHCR) refused [to recognize] all of us [as being refugees].”
Ek Sitha is calling all human rights organizations to intervene in this arrest, and he also requests the Thai authority not to repatriate back these people to Cambodia.
Ek Sitha said: “They arrested altogether 80 people exactly, including both the Jaray and Khmer people. We cannot tell you all their names because about 15 minutes after I left, they (the Thai authority) arrived to make the arrest. Among the 80 arrested, 20 of them are children.”
Ek Sitha who escaped the arrest, talked to RFA’s Lim Pisith, from Ayutthaya province. He indicated that Nhem Sivorn, his wife, and Vin Mardi, his 10-year-old daughter, are among those arrested by the Thai authority. Ek Sitha said about the Khmer and Khmer Krom people arrested that: “In our area, except for Thach Cheng … and Kieng Samorn…, everybody else, including my family, my daughter, are accused of living illegally, we don’t have sufficient paperwork to live [in Thailand] because the UN (UNHCR) refused [to recognize] all of us [as being refugees].”
Ek Sitha is calling all human rights organizations to intervene in this arrest, and he also requests the Thai authority not to repatriate back these people to Cambodia.
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