This article was originally published on HaRDstories.
Yean Srey Yan keeps her new rental room in the Cambodian capital sparsely furnished. The four-by-eight-metre space feels crowded with anything more than a wardrobe, portable gas stove, cooking supplies, and the bed where she sleeps with her cousin and four-month-old son.
The one decoration she does allow herself is a large poster of her husband, Sun Chanthy, a cofounder of Cambodia’s Nation Power Party (NPP) who has been jailed since his arrest in May 2024.
When she moved into this apartment in Phnom Penh, she informed the landlord who she was and that she might have unusual visitors, like the reporters from HaRDstories who visited in June. She began this practice after reporters had visited her previous rental in June, just after she’d given birth. Dozens of calls and messages from her former landlord soon followed. “You’re the wife of the opposition leader,” she recalled being told. “I can’t continue to rent you a room.”
Srey Yan understood. She didn’t blame the landlord, who might have been pressured by authorities to evict her. But she also decided not to hide who her husband is – or who she is.
As Cambodia’s political space shrinks, the wives of opposition politicians refuse to surrender to the difficulties they face. They have shown remarkable resilience, working to help their imprisoned husbands whilst some even forming networks like the “Friday Women” campaign for mutual support.
Srey Yan said the troubles started even before her husband’s first arrest. When they travelled to meet other party members or visit their hometown in Kampong Thom province, people on motorbikes followed them.
Her husband was among a group of senior politicians who established the NPP in October 2023, shortly after another leading opposition party, the Candlelight Party, was barred from participating in the 2023 National Election.
Chanthy was charged with incitement in May 2024 – a common accusation against opposition figures. In December, he was sentenced two years in prison, a 1,000 USD fine, and was stripped of his right to hold office. His crime? Criticising the government’s “IDPoor” social benefits programme and discussing social issues with his supporters during a trip to Japan.
The arrest of NPP members has been seen as politically motivated, especially after they rejected joining the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
Chanthy decided not to appeal because he suspected the court would be biased, Srey Yan said. Her husband had raised the IDPoor issue because many people shared their concerns with him, being afraid to speak themselves.
“They arrested him when he brought up the situation, so we could see how our society is today and what we want to change,” Srey Yan said.
Supporting a Prisoner
Pursat Provincial Prison lies three hours from Phnom Penh, making visits difficult for Srey Yan with a newborn. Chanthy has only seen his son three times since birth. “When he saw his child, his tears fell.”
“When the authorities arrested him, I was seven weeks pregnant,” Srey Yan said. Chanthy was arrested only three days after learning his wife was pregnant with their first child.
Like Srey Yan, other family members of political activists say they are watched and intimidated, in a way that makes them wonder if authorities aim to pressure them into giving up political convictions.
Prum Chantha has lived under this surveillance for years. Three years ago, authorities installed CCTV cameras to monitor her flat, telling her they were for ‘community security’ and promising more would follow along the road. No additional cameras ever appeared – just the one trained on her building.
Chantha’s husband Kumphear was a senior member of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, dissolved by the Supreme Court in 2017. He fled to Thailand immediately after the party was banned, stayed for roughly three months, then returned to meet with CNRP supporters. Charged with incitement in October 2019, he remained on the run until his arrest in Takeo’s Bati district in May 2020. Kumphear was eventually sentenced to six years for incitement to commit a felony and plotting.
Phnom Penh authorities regularly visit Chantha’s house during major international events, like when U.S. President Joe Biden attended the 2022 ASEAN Summit.
“They placed a folding chair [and a guard sat] all day and all night in front of my house and they wouldn’t let me leave,” Chantha said. She believes this started after former U.S. Deputy Foreign Minister Wendy Sherman met privately with Kem Sokha, leader of the dissolved CNRP, in June 2021.
After her husband’s arrest, all family responsibilities fell on Chantha. Besides caring for her ill mother and sons, she protested and demanded Kumphear’s release.
Her husband is not the only family member to be arrested. Kak Sovannchhay, one of Chantha’s sons, was imprisoned for eight months after being accused of defaming public servants in a group chat where he’d defended his father. He has autism – a brain development disorder – and was 16 at the time.
Am Sam Art, operations director at the Cambodian human rights organisation LICADHO, explained that most wives of opposition party members face threats to their fundamental rights as citizens. They are often subjected to surveillance, harassment and intimidation by the authorities when they speak to the media, he said, citing observations from working on human rights in Cambodia for 27 years.
Sam Art pointed to the charges against Chantha’s son as evidence. “The accusations against him were not [solid] enough. So, the authorities used private Telegram messages as the basis for the accusations.”
Even though there are multiple political parties in Cambodia, the right to political participation remains stifled, Sam Art said.
“Opposition party members are frequently charged with crimes, and even those who merely speak to the media, like members of the Nation Power Party, have faced legal action,” he explained. “This clearly reflects a shrinking space for political freedom.”
In its 2025 report, Freedom House rated Cambodia as a “not free” nation, giving the country low scores for global freedoms, civil liberties and internet freedom. Cambodia met only four out of 40 standards for political rights.
Under one-party rule, the Freedom House report reads, the Cambodian People’s Party has used violence, intimidation, and politically motivated prosecutions to pressure the opposition, independent media, and protesters.
Financial Strain
Four months after giving birth, Srey Yan cannot work full-time. But she must earn money – for herself, her son, and her imprisoned husband.
“Living expenses are very difficult,” she said, adding she listed a plot of land in Kampong Thom for sale after burning through the couple’s savings. “I have spent 800,000 riel (200 USD) monthly for him; in prison everything is super expensive.”
Srey Yan runs an online shop selling secondhand women’s designer bags, which she buys from a middleman and resells on social media. Though she began the business before her husband’s arrest, she still finds it difficult and sells only one or two bags weekly. Customers tend to be people who know her circumstances.
Chantha had to sell their family home at the end of 2020 after using up all their savings. She’d also lost her job as a restaurant manager during Covid-19 pandemic closures.
“I couldn’t take it any longer [financially],” she said. “I also had to transfer my sons from private to public school.”
Like Srey Yan, Chantha must financially support her husband in prison, spending around 400 USD monthly.
She and her nephew had previously invested in a printing business, which now helps support them. But the printing industry faces difficulties, and it’s only thanks to a relative that she can cover school expenses.
“My sons and I are fine, and we eat anything we have,” Chantha said, adding that the family denies themselves small luxuries. “We save. This is durian season; I can’t bring myself to buy it.”
Resilience
While many opposition families retreat into silence after arrests, Srey Yan and Chantha have taken the opposite path.
Both women refused to give up after their husbands were jailed for criticising the ruling party and advocating democratic reform. Chantha has become the driving force behind the Friday Women Campaign, a group of women seeking their husbands’ release. The members face harassment themselves, but Chantha has transformed grief into organised resistance.
She encourages other wives to speak publicly about their situations, transforming them from silent supporters into vocal advocates for their husbands’ release.
“At first, they always cried,” Chantha recalled of the women whose family members were imprisoned. “I told them ‘don’t let fear control you, speak out, say something.’ Later, they dared to speak, demand and protest.”
Chantha said that the idea for the group came to her after noticing isolated wives calling for their husbands’ release. She gathered phone numbers, built a network. Launched in 2021, the Friday Women Campaign gained global attention, built their reputation for courage internationally, and received support from democratic countries through meetings and statements.
Through the campaign, Chantha has helped politicians’ wives be heard, bringing them to embassies to express their concerns. “Who will do it if we don’t?” she asked.
Initially over 35 opposition family members whose fathers or husbands had been imprisoned joined, but the group shrank as some chose to join the ruling party. Chantha suggested some continue to support the group covertly, afraid of being threatened.
The group remains active, Chantha said, despite members’ health and financial problems.
Chantha has since changed her strategy, meeting with stakeholders who wish to improve Cambodia’s political situation and representatives of the European Union, United Kingdom, United States and countries in the region.
“Nowadays, I and Chanthy’s wife and other wives [of jailed opposition members] meet with the embassies of the U.S., France, the U.K., Germany, Japan, and the E.U. to update them about our activities,” she said.
This international visibility has come at a cost. Phil Robertson, director of the advocacy organisation Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates, has observed that the Friday Women have experienced extraordinary harassment and intimidation.
“The government wants to make an example of them so that other families of political prisoners don’t dare undertake similar defiant actions,” Robertson said. He noted that families of dissidents in other Southeast Asian countries face similar intimidation.
Robertson felt that governments from North America, Europe, Australia and beyond should do more to support the spouses and children who raise their loved ones’ cases.
“If the Cambodian government is not prepared to listen, then like-minded states must work in coalition to target programmes that the Cambodian government cares about, and make them conditional on improvements in the human rights situation.”
No regrets
Chantha realises she and other political activists could leave the country or join the ruling party to protect their safety, but if they all made that decision, nothing would change. “My husband has been imprisoned for five years. But I’ve never once felt like giving up. I’ve always stood tall, telling him to be strong.”
Srey Yan too has always shared her husband’s goal of seeing Cambodia become a country that respects human rights and acts as a true democracy. When they met, Chanthy was an opposition politician and she was a member of a volunteer group that helped patrol wildlife sanctuaries.
Srey Yan has always loved social work since she was a young girl, and she said she and Chanthy bonded over their convictions.
Despite being under pressure due to her husband’s imprisonment and their financial situation, Srey Yan remains determined to help him serve the nation. She supports the Friday Women to call for the release of all jailed opposition members and her husband, she said.
“If he agrees to join them (the ruling party), I will divorce him,” Srey Yan said. “When he lost his freedom, he asked me what my stand was. I was seven weeks pregnant at the time. I told him my goal was still the same: I wanted to move forward, and I was not allowing him to join them.”
Even with her husband in jail for another three years, Chantha says she never felt abandoned, because she experienced kindness from friends, peers and even strangers, who offered food, funds and encouragement to hold onto her conviction.
“They don’t abandon us because what we’re doing is for a national cause,” Chantha said.
Edited by Danielle Keeton-Olsen
Phoung Vantha is a Cambodian journalist based in Phnom Penh. He is a freelance reporter who covers human rights, social issues, and environmental topics.
Roun Ry is a Phnom Penh-based freelance photographer focusing on environmental and social issues, and human stories.