Urgent Appeal: Humanitarian Support for Five Environmental Defenders in Jail!!
Five young Cambodian environmental activists from Mother Nature Cambodia were jailed on the 2nd of July, 2024, and currently imprisoned for their peaceful efforts to protect forests, rivers, and communities. Their only “crime” was to speak the truth about the destruction of our natural environment. They have also been separated from each other and sent to five different prisons across Cambodia. These facilities are known for extreme overcrowding, chronic underfunding, and corruption, where prisoners are forced to pay for almost everything — from food and medicine to basic hygiene. This makes their daily survival even more difficult and adds unbearable pressure on their families.
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Who You Will Be Supporting:
The following five defenders are now behind bars:
- Long Kunthea
- Ly Chandaravuth
- Phuon Keoraksmey
- Thun Ratha
- Yim Leanghy
Each of them has been sentenced to 6 to 8 years in prison under fabricated charges of “plotting against the government” and “insulting the king.” They are enduring harsh prison conditions, far from their families, simply because they dared to defend nature and speak out against corruption.
Ly Chandarvuth is grabbed by the neck before being bundled into a car. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Why Your Support Matters:
Your support directly sustains the five imprisoned Mother Nature Cambodia activists and their families during this critical period. Every week without sufficient support means fewer legal visits, reduced family contact, and increased hardship behind bars. These are young people who risked everything to defend Cambodia’s natural environment, and now face harsh prison conditions far from their loved ones simply for speaking the truth.
Your donation will immediately help provide:
- Legal Defense: Supporting experienced lawyers, appeal efforts, and essential legal visits to fight for their release and protect their rights in prison.
- Family Support: Ensuring that families can continue regular prison visits and providing essential financial assistance at a time when many have lost income due to ongoing repression.
- Basic Dignity in Jail: Supplying clean food, hygiene products, medicine, and other essentials that prisoners are forced to buy even inside Cambodian prisons.
Without urgent humanitarian support, these activists may face long periods without legal access, fewer family visits, and increasing vulnerability inside prison. Your solidarity today helps protect their health, dignity, and hope — and shows them they are not forgotten.
Every contribution makes a difference — even a small monthly donation helps families survive and keeps the fight for justice alive.
Phuon Keorasmey escorted by police after receiving-year sentence, Phnom Penh. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)