An 84-year-old Cambodian land rights activist known as “Grandma Mammy” has vowed to defy threats of arrest and keep demonstrating in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court until her daughter is released from prison.
The woman, whose real name is Nget Khun, began her regular appearances at the court after her daughter, Eng Sokha, was detained on Jan. 31.
Eng Sokha was charged with “destroying other people’s property” during a protest related to a years-long dispute over a development project at Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak lake community.
Her mother, Nget Khun, told Radio Free Asia on Thursday that she will ignore warnings from authorities who said she would also be arrested if she doesn’t stop her almost-daily protest at the court.
“The judge wants me to be quiet for two or three months,” she said. “He said I was bothering them and disturbing the traffic.
“But I said that until my daughter is released, I will be here. If I have money I will be here daily.”
Former residents have clashed with authorities for years over the eviction of thousands of families to make way for the project, which has close ties to former Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP.
The Boeung Kak concession was granted to CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin in 2007. Since then, the lake has been drained, houses have been burned down and people who participate in the still-frequent demonstrations have been threatened and sometimes beaten by police.
Nget Khun shows up for almost all of Phnom Penh’s land dispute protests.
At one Boeung Kak rally earlier this year, police roughed up some of the demonstrators, including Nget Khun. Eng Sokha was arrested in January after she protested the fact that authorities haven’t arrested anyone in the assault of her mother, Nget Khun told RFA.
“You can stop me seeking justice only after my death. I am not wrong, I do not give up,” she said. “No land, no life.”
Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.