Last Updated 11/01/2006, 17:48:17 | Select text size: |     |
Tens of thousands of people in Cambodia have endorsed a petition in a show of support for democracy.
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights says more than 40,000 villagers in six provinces have put down their thumb-prints in support of jailed activists, and calling on King Norodom Sihamoni to intervene.
A spokesman for the Center, Ou Virak, says the petition will be handed to the king.
"We want the king to know about the people's hunger for rights and democracy to be respected, about the people's desire for the human rights activists to be freed," he said.
Political crackdown
The petition drive follows the arrests of the Center's director, Kem Sokha, and his deputy amid a wider crackdown on government critics.
Both have been charged with defaming the government.
Since October nearly a dozen people, including opposition leader Sam Rainsy, have also been charged with defamation, a criminal offence in Cambodia.
The crackdown has been internationally condemned.
Australia urged to speak out
The Australian government is being urged to help preserve an increasingly fragile democracy in Cambodia.
The foreign affairs spokesman of Australia's main opposition Labor party, Kevin Rudd says Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is widening a crackdown on opposition figures who have been critical of his government.
The United States, the United Nations and the World Bank have all voiced concerns about the deteriorating situation in the country.
However, Mr Rudd says Australia has been silent.
"The Australian government should be joining in the chorus of international protests about these actions by the government of Mr Hun Sen in Cambodia," he said.
"Australia under former foreign minister, Gareth Evans, fought hard to bring to birth the Cambodian democracy in the first place through the Cambodian peace process."
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