Hong Kong Instagram influencer pleads for release of father arrested in Cambodia
A Hong Kong-based Instagram influencer has written an open letter to Cambodia's prime minister, calling for the immediate release of her father, who needs urgent medical care.
Stephanie Cheng, also known as Laparasian on Instagram, posted a copy of the letter in English, French and Chinese on her social media early Saturday morning.
In a separate post the previous day, the influencer said that her father, Cheng Chi-gian, a French citizen, had been 'kidnapped in Phnom Penh just before exposing a high-level corruption case', and that her family's lawyers were unable to get in touch with him.
Addressing Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet in her letter, Cheng said her father had not been informed of his charges when arrested on June 11 and called on the leader to intervene in the case.
Her father's transfer to Prey Sar Prison was also a 'serious concern' for her, 'given his fragile health condition, as a 63-year-old man, in the harsh environment in which he is now being held', while unable to understand the Khmer language.
'We are pleading for his immediate release on bail,' she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
38 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Vatican beatifies Congo customs worker for resisting corruption
The Vatican on Sunday is beatifying a Congolese customs worker who was killed for resisting a bribe, giving young people in a place with endemic corruption a new model of holiness: someone who refused to allow spoiled rice to be distributed to poor people. The head of the Vatican's saint-making office, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, is presiding over the beatification ceremony on Sunday at one of the pontifical basilicas in Rome, St. Paul Outside the Walls. The event is drawing Congolese pilgrims and much of Rome's Congolese Catholic community, who will be treated to a special audience on Monday with Pope Leo XIV. Floribèrt Bwana Chui Bin Kositi was kidnapped and killed in 2007 after he refused to allow rancid rice from Rwanda to be transported across the border to the eastern DR Congo city of Goma. As an official with the Congolese government's customs quality control office, the 26-year-old knew the risks of resisting bribes offered to public officials. But he also knew the risks of allowing spoiled food to be distributed to the most desperate. 'On that day, those mafiosi found themselves in front of a young man who, in the name of the Gospel, said 'No.' He opposed,' his friend Aline Manani said. 'And Floribèrt, I think that for me personally, I would say for all young people, is a role model.'
South China Morning Post
6 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Up to 10,000 Pogo-linked foreigners remain in Philippines, criticisms mount over inaction
Up to 10,000 foreign nationals linked to the controversial Philippine offshore gaming operations (Pogos) remain in the country despite a ban on the sector last year, with calls from lawmakers mounting to track down those at large and quickly deport them. Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC) chief Gilbert Cruz revealed the numbers – mostly Chinese nationals – in the past week to a committee at the House of Representatives overseeing hearings on Pogos and alleged links to human rights violations, scams, and other crimes. '[Enforcement actions against] more than 9,000 illegal foreign workers have been temporarily suspended. Many detainees cannot be deported due to missing passports,' Cruz said, referring to an estimated total that included those at large. This has led to congestion in a detention facility in Pasay, a building converted into a PAOCC office, previously a Pogos hub raided and seized by the commission during last year's crackdown. There are 640 detainees in the facility awaiting deportation. Cruz said the commission was having difficulty funding their food and healthcare needs, with two in custody having died due to illness, while as many as 300 had fallen ill. Without naming other Philippine agencies, Cruz added his side was having difficulty deporting the foreign workers as 'coordination with foreign embassies for travel documents remains slow and inefficient'.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Trump tariffs challenge Asean's unity and economic stability
When US President Donald Trump 's tariff chaos eventually calms, its long-lasting consequences will significantly affect the area just south of China and east of India – Southeast Asia – and its organisational bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( Asean ). Trump's focus on protectionism is likely to replace uniform tariffs with varying import taxes for different countries. This shift could create divisive and harmful effects for Southeast Asia and Asean, which are interchangeable but distinct, fostering competition rather than enhancing cooperation among their economies. The time has come to think of this central Indo-Pacific neighbourhood more as a Southeast Asian region and less as an Asean organisation of production networks and global supply chains. To be sure, Trump's unilateral tariffs across Washington's geoeconomic chessboard pose a critical test for Asean. The Southeast Asian grouping has weathered many geopolitical and geoeconomic storms in its 58-year existence, but few are as serious as the Trump tariffs. Asean risks facing further division, reduction, and irrelevance unless it can reorganise and unite. Over the last 13 years, Asean has already faced complicated divisions due to the US-China rivalry , Beijing's aggressive actions in the South China Sea , Myanmar's 2021 coup and subsequent civil war, along with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The responses of Asean member states to these challenges have varied.
