Cambodia: Imprisoned Union Leader Must Be Released

Ms. Chhim Sithar, 34, is the second child of six siblings and has four brothers and one sister. She helps to support her 57-year-old uncle who has leukemia, her 65-year-old mother and her 33-year-old brother. Sithar has a bachelor’s degree in Economic Informatics.

Sithar has worked at NagaWorld since 2007 and became the president of LRSU in 2010. On 3 January 2022, Sithar was charged with ‘incitement to commit a felony’ under articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code. Sithar was violently arrested on 4 January 2022, being dragged by her neck and pulled into a car by undercover police while trying to join a strike in Phnom Penh. She spent 72 days in pre-trial detention before being released on bail in March. 

Sithar was rearrested on 26 November 2022 after returning to Cambodia from Australia, where she had met with other labour leaders and during which time a Human Rights Watch report was published that featured her speaking out against the Cambodian government’s repressive tactics. She was arrested for allegedly violating conditions of her bail, but neither she nor her lawyers were ever made aware of any bail conditions related to travel, despite requesting such information. Sithar had previously travelled to Thailand on two occasions without issue since being granted bail in March 2022 and prior to her trip to Australia. Before being arrested, Sithar told Amnesty International: 

“They told me it's not easy to fight against Naga, because they are big and have lots of money. But if no one fights the difficult fights, then how can we hold anyone accountable – and how can we hope to win the other fights?”