- Pakistan 'vigilantes' behind rise in online blasphemy cases
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- Smith experiment as Test opener over, Green out of India series
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Dodgers crush Mets 9-0 in MLB playoff series opener
- South Korea military says 'fully ready' as drone tensions soar
- Cummins back, Marsh and Head out of Pakistan ODI series
- Shanghai stocks swing after stimulus briefing as most of Asia rises
- New Zealand's Latham promises 'no fear' as he takes charge for India Tests
- Kyrgios vows to 'shut up' doubters with December comeback
- Public hearings start into death of Brit by Russian nerve agent
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- 'Stolen satire' feeds US election misinformation
- Rookie McCarty captures first PGA Tour title in Black Desert Championship
- Australia all-rounder Green ruled out of India Test series
- Seeing double in Nigeria's 'twins capital of the world'
- UK FM to attend EU foreign affairs talks for first time in 2 years
- Carter, Billups among 13 new Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
- Ravens rip Commanders as Lions lose NFL sacks leader in win
- Hezbollah drone strike kills four, wounds dozens at Israeli base
- China says launches military drills around Taiwan
- Stewart leads Liberty past Lynx to level WNBA Finals
- England return to winning ways in Nations League, Austria thrash Norway
- UN chief says attacks on UNIFIL 'may constitute a war crime'
- Ravens outlast Commanders while Bucs batter Saints in NFL
- Dozens hurt in Israel as Hezbollah claims drone strike
- England deserve 'world class' coach: Carsley
- Burkina Faso win to become first qualifiers for 2025 AFCON
- AC Milan's Pulisic among five out for USA match in Mexico
- France's Amandine Henry retires from international football
- Centre-left set to win pro-Ukraine Lithuania's vote
- India's World Cup hopes in Pakistan hands after Australia defeat
- Zelensky says NKorea sending troops to Russian army
- England beat Finland to get back on track
- King and Lewis propel West Indies to T20 triumph over Sri Lanka
- Pre-Halloween 'Terrifier' lands atop North America box office
- 'I still plan to compete and play next season,' says Djokovic
- Harris, Trump seek advantage in knife-edge election battle
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record in Chicago
- Kamindu and Asalanka power Sri Lanka to 179 against West Indies
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record as Korir wins in Chicago
- Spain send injured Yamal home 'to prioritise player's health'
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Iraq walks fine line with pro-Iran factions to avoid war
- Race four abandoned after New Zealand breeze into 3-0 lead in America's Cup
- West Indies win toss, put Sri Lanka in to bat in first T20
- Sudan rescuers say air strike killed 23 in Khartoum market
- Netanyahu tells UN to move Lebanon peacekeepers out of 'harm's way'
Cambodia convicts opposition figures in mass trial
A Phnom Penh court convicted around 60 opposition figures including an outspoken US-Cambodian activist in a mass trial Tuesday as long-serving leader Hun Sen cracks down on dissent ahead of national elections next year.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has lived in France since 2016 to avoid jail for convictions he says are politically motivated, had another eight years added to his existing sentence.
Outside court, US-Cambodian lawyer and campaigner Theary Seng -- dressed as the Statue of Liberty -- was abruptly dragged into a car by police after receiving a six-year jail term for treason.
"I am ready for a guilty verdict because this regime will not let me go free," Theary Seng said before her conviction.
"It will be an unfair and unjust verdict because I am innocent, the others charged with me are innocent," the 51-year-old added.
Patrick Murphy, the US Ambassador to Cambodia, tweeted he was "deeply troubled" by the verdict against Seng Theary.
"Freedom of expression and association, and tolerance of dissenting views, are vital components of democracy," the ambassador said, calling for her release.
- 'Living in a dictatorship' -
Theary Seng is among scores caught up in a push to detain and arrest former members of the now-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), human rights defenders, and any dissenting voices to the administration.
The case is linked to Sam Rainsy's failed attempt to return to Cambodia in 2019 -- moves characterised by the government as an aborted bid to overthrow Hun Sen.
The charges faced by those convicted on Tuesday ranged from treason to incitement and conspiracy.
Several defendants have already been jailed, while many remain at large or have fled Cambodia.
"The mass trials against political opposition members are really about preventing any electoral challenge to Prime Minister Hun Sen's rule, but they have also come to symbolise the death of Cambodia's democracy," Human Rights Watch spokesman Phil Robertson said.
"By creating a political dynamic that relies on intimidation and persecution of government critics, Hun Sen demonstrates his total disregard for democratic rights."
The prime minister is one of the world's longest-serving leaders, having been in power for 37 years, and is reportedly grooming his eldest son to take the reins.
Theary Seng was charged by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court with conspiracy to commit treason and incitement to commit a felony.
"We are living in a dictatorship," she said, claiming Hun Sen's government "uses the law as a weapon against its own people".
She added that "this regime is imprisoning liberty and freedom".
Ahead of a recent local poll, the United Nations Human Rights Office said it was disturbed by reports of opposition obstruction in a "paralysing political environment".
Hun Sen's political party later announced a landslide win.
O.Johnson--AMWN