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AFP
Phnom Penh
Cambodia's government on Friday approved the country's first lese majeste law handing a five year sentence to anyone found guilty of insulting the king, a move rights groups fear will be used to target dissent.
Unlike neighbouring Thailand where royal defamation often results in decades in jail, Cambodia's largely symbolic monarchy was not until now shielded from criticism.
The law was adopted during a cabinet meeting chaired by premier Hun Sen, an authoritarian leader who is poised to extend his tenure at elections in July after dissolving the opposition and driving many of his critics into self-exile.
The new law, which bans insulting Cambodia's constitutional monarch King Norodom Sihamoni, was added to the criminal code to"uphold and to protect the reputation and royal name," government spokesman Phay Siphan wrote in a Facebook post.
"Insults to the King shall be punished between one to five years in prison" plus a $2,500 fine, the post said.
The power of the Cambodian monarchy has waned significantly in recent decades under Hun Sen, a domineering premier who has amassed tight control of the kingdom during his 33 years in office.
King Sihamoni, who took the throne in 2004, is considered a purely symbolic head of state whose quiet, unflashy life stands in stark contrast to that of his politically ambitious father, who publicly clashed with the premier before abdicating.
King Sihamoni is well-respected among Cambodians and largely seen as above the political fray.
