The woman was arrested after selling clothing and cosmetics on Facebook while wearing scanty outfits

 

By Matt Blomberg

 

PHNOM PENH, April 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Cambodian woman was sentenced to six months in prison on Friday after a court ruled that her Facebook live streams selling clothing and cosmetics while wearing skimpy outfits amounted to pornography, women's rights groups said.

 

Ven Rachna, 39, was arrested in February, two days after Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech that some online vendors were encouraging sexual assault and disgracing Cambodian culture by wearing scanty outfits.

 

Having been jailed since her arrest, Rachna will go free early next month, local media reported, with the remainder of her sentence suspended.

Court officials could not be reached for comment, while women's rights groups were unclear about the release date.

 

"The big issue here is not the amount of time she spends in prison, but the policies behind her being charged in the first place," said Ros Sopheap, head of the Gender for Development in Cambodia charity.

 

"Is this what we classify as pornography now?"

Selling clothing and beauty products via Facebook live streams is a rising trend in conservative Cambodia, where many expect women to be submissive and quiet, a legacy of the Chbap Srey, an oppressive code of conduct for women.

 

Facebook declined to comment.

In his speech before Rachna's arrest, the prime minister called for authorities to track down and "educate" women using what he saw as provocative sales pitches.

 

"Sell your products, not your breasts," he said.

At the time of Rachna's arrest, advocacy group Amnesty International said the charges - of producing pornography and indecent exposure - were an affront to women's rights.

 

"This is a deeply unjust conviction which tramples upon women's rights and freedom of expression," an Amnesty spokesperson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Friday. (Reporting by Matt Blomberg, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)

 

--  --   REUTERS

More gross hypocrisy...how about closing down all the brothels...oh, I mean bars...in Phnom Penh...???

in cambodia culture women going topless was the norm, and even the french werent too uptight about it. Im not sure were the dictator learnt his history, Im guessing he makes it up as he goes along

If Facebook don't close the page down its not pornographic,and <deleted> has this got to do with the "women's right groups". Go save homeless woman or something constructive.

On 4/26/2020 at 2:10 AM, phycokiller said:

in cambodia culture women going topless was the norm, and even the french werent too uptight about it. Im not sure were the dictator learnt his history, Im guessing he makes it up as he goes along

Most of them learned their 'new morality' while attending British Public schools.

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Most of them learned their 'new morality' while attending British Public schools.

What Cambodian leader)s0 ever attended a British Public school?

 

None that I know of.....

On 4/26/2020 at 2:10 AM, phycokiller said:

in cambodia culture women going topless was the norm, and even the french werent too uptight about it. Im not sure were the dictator learnt his history, Im guessing he makes it up as he goes along

Times have changed since then though .

Even more ridiculous than Thailand...