Neighbors Visit Boeng Kak Hunger Strikers at Prey Sar Prison

Residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak community yesterday said they visited four former neighbors now serving jail terms in Prey Sar prison for demonstrating against CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin’s real estate project and urged the women to end their reported hunger strike. A prison official, however, insisted there was no hunger strike. The four women were among the 13 Boeng Kak residents sentenced to two-and-a-half-year jail terms on May 24 after a trial widely criticized as unjust by rights groups. They reportedly started their hunger strike to protest their convictions on Sunday morning. Bo Chhorvy, one of 11 Boeng Kak residents allowed to meet the prisoners, including Tep Vanny, claimed that the four had only drunk water since. …