By Denise Hruby
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
Cambodian opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour is in hiding after the Prime Minister told police to arrest him over a Facebook post Hun Sen classified as "treason".
Fellow members of the opposition confirmed Friday that he was hiding in "a safe place" after rumors circulated that he had already been arrested the day before.
The post, Hun Sen said during a speech Thursday, showed a high-ranking government official "dissolving" the border with Vietnam.
The meme had circulated on Facebook before, typically on the pages of opposition party supporters, who believe that neighboring Vietnam is encroaching on Cambodian territory.
The shared border has been the center of several disputes and arrests of opposition party members and its supporters in the past.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony, Hun Sen said that the Facebook post made it difficult for him to fall asleep, and that he decided that the crime was too serious to be forgiven.
"They already accused the government of using fake maps, and we did not react. Now it’s posted, and it’s a red-handed crime that he shall be arrested for immediately," he said.
The Sam Rainsy Party, a legacy opposition party that exists for legal reasons, but whose members are de facto part of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, rejected Hun Sen's accusations in a statement.
"The Sam Rainsy Party’s permanent committee has examined and thinks that the use of an unofficial document and Hong Sok Hour’s interpretation in his status as a senator is not treason as alleged by the prime minister," the party said.
As prime minister, Hun Sen does not have the power to order someone's arrest, but it is not the first time authorities have acted swiftly on the recommendations of the premier, who has ruled the country for more than 30 years.
Recently, a powerful tycoon who had brutally beaten a TV presenter in a nightclub was only arrested after Hun Sen intervened.
Several days later, Hun Sen also addressed former Bavet city governor Chhouk Bundith, who shot three garment workers, and told him that he "can't hide". Bundith, who had been on the run for two years, then turned himself in.
