Ranariddh asks father to pardon exiled prince
Ranariddh asks father to pardon exiled prince
PHNOM PENH (Agencies): Cambodia's First Prime Minister Prince
Norodom Ranariddh has asked his father, King Norodom Sihanouk, to
pardon exiled Prince Norodom Sirivudh, according to a letter
released yesterday.
"I ... beg your favor, the King, to consider the kindest
pardon, which you have given to all your people with kindness and
great love and pity, to be given to Sirivudh," Prince Ranariddh
wrote.
Though Prince Ranariddh has previously said a pardon should be
granted to Prince Sirivudh, the king's half-brother, he had not
formally asked the King to act.
Prince Ranariddh's announcement comes a day after King
Sihanouk said that he will not grant a pardon to Prince Norodom
Sirivudh without first receiving "the green light" from both
prime ministers.
The King's statement was directed at Second Prime Minister Hun
Sen, who has warned of "lawlessness" if Prince Sirivudh returns
without the protection of a pardon.
A senior government official who supports Hun Sen, the vice
president of the formerly communist Cambodian People's Party,
said yesterday that the prince's request to his father will have
no affect on Hun Sen's position.
"Even the prince's request is not legal because this work
should be requested by the ministries of interior and justice to
the King," said the official. "That is why the Second Prime
Minister Hun Sen will probably not do so."
The official said he does not expect Hun Sen to ask the King
to pardon Sirivudh.
Prince Ranariddh's letter, dated Wednesday, was made public by
his cabinet yesterday, the day he ended a seven-day sabbatical
into the monkhood.
Prince Sirivudh, the former foreign minister and former
secretary-general of the royalist Funcinpec party, was sent into
exile last December for allegedly plotting to assassinate Hun
Sen. He has recently said that he wants to come back.
In a separate development more than 3,000 workers were locked
out of Cambodia's largest garment factory yesterday when they
demanded better working conditions, sparking the third labor
protest in a week in the capital.
Human rights workers said it was the largest demonstration in
Cambodia since December 1991, when student protests were put down
with violence in Phnom Penh.
Workers for Cambodia Garments Ltd, led by opposition
politician Sam Rainsy and chiefs of their new union, marched
peacefully about 10 kilometers from their factory to the Council
of Ministers, the National Assembly and the palace, where King
Norodom Sihanouk agreed to meet the workers this morning.
The labor unrest, which followed demonstrations on Sunday and
Tuesday, has prompted the Ministry of Industry to hold meetings
with factory management and caused the cancellation of a visit to
the factory by a Hong Kong trade delegation.
But Kong Yee Cheng, executive director of Cambodia Garments,
denied worker allegations of long hours, low pay and poor
conditions.
He told Reuters the lockout occurred because "some workers
want to work, but others don't," adding that he was concerned
about acts of sabotage.