Jailed pol’s daughter offers plea to Obama

The daughter of opposition party official Meach Sovannara has written an open letter to US President Barack Obama, appealing to his own paternal instincts and asking him to intervene on her father’s behalf when Hun Sen visits the US in February with other ASEAN leaders. Sovannara, a US citizen and the Cambodia National Rescue Party’s information chief, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted last July of “leading an insurrection”, a charge widely believed to be politically motivated.

On Wednesday, Sovannara’s family began circulating on social media a letter from Sovannara’s oldest daughter, Meach Socheata, 16, in which she accuses Hun Sen of using his political influence to see her father jailed, and of being behind the violent attack last October on two opposition lawmakers, one of whom also holds US citizenship. “Mr. President I miss my daddy very dearly. My younger sisters, Jenny, 11, and Sarai, 7, really miss him too.

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