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.