Opposition editor Dam Sith called his arrest unfair and an abuse of Cambodian law, and he appealed to the courts to release him on bail, a journalist who visited him in prison said Friday.
Dam Sith is being detained in a cell 4 meters wide and 15 meters long, said Puy Kea, a member of the Club of Cambodian Journalists, five of whose members visited the editor Friday morning.
Dam Sith has been in jail since Sunday on charges of defamation and disinformation, following the publication in Moneaksekar Khmer a speech by opposition leader Sam Rainsy that accused Foreign Minister Hor Namhong of being a former member of the Khmer Rouge.
Hor Namhong has denied such accusations in the past and filed suit against the paper April 25.
Wife Meas Chan Kanha said she worried about a stomach ailment of Dam Sith that requires daily medicine the prison cannot provide.
Kuy Bun Sorn, chief of Cambodian prisons, said Friday Dam Sith was detained with criminals of various charges, including murder, terrorism, assassination and rape.
