PHNOM PENH — The Cambodian Supreme Court is scheduled to issue a ruling on June 25, 2026, in the appeal of journalists Phorn Sopheap and Pheap Pheara. The Siem Reap Provincial Court convicted the pair of treason in December 2025 and sentenced each to 14 years in prison.

Sopheap, a journalist for Battambang Post TV Online, and Pheara, a journalist for TSP 68 TV Online, were arrested in July 2025 while returning from reporting trips to the Cambodia-Thailand border. A lower court of appeal upheld their convictions in March 2026.

Cambodian authorities alleged the two journalists posted photographs from a restricted military zone on Facebook. The court found them guilty of "supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defense." Sopheap and Pheara deny the treason charges, stating they had permission to be in the area where the photographs were taken.

One photograph taken by the journalists showed land mines. Thai media outlets republished an image showing land mines. Border fighting occurred in July and December 2025, displacing hundreds of thousands of people in Thailand and Cambodia and killing about 100 soldiers and civilians. A ceasefire was established in December 2025. Cambodian authorities stated the mines might have been left over from conflicts that ended in the late 1990s. Cambodia officially denied using land mines in the conflict and stated it adhered to international agreements banning their use.

More than a dozen national and international journalism associations wrote a joint letter asking the Cambodian government to withdraw its case against the journalists. Hun Manet succeeded Hun Sen as Prime Minister in August 2023.