Former gov’t official gets 15 years for trafficking

FORMER Ministr y of Socia l Affairs, Vetera ns a nd Yout h Rehabilitat ion secretar y of state Ahmad Yahya and h i s nephew Isma i l Osma n were bot h sentenced to 15 yea rs in pr ison on Tuesday a f ter t he Ph nom Penh Municipa l Court found t hem g ui lt y of human t ra f f ick i ng.

A hmad, a prominent Cham Muslim communit y leader, a nd Ismai l, a former member of t he Supreme Court-dissolved Cambodia Nationa l Rescue Pa r t y, were accused of sending some 20 women to work in Saudi A rabia in 2004, but A hmad h a d p r e v i o u s l y c l a i me d t h e a l legat ion s were pa r t of a smea r ca mpaign.

Ph nom Pen h Municipa l Cou r t spokesper son Suos V ichea r a ndy told The Post t hat t he pair was sentenced to 15 yea rs i mprison ment for “u n law f u l remova l for c rossborder t ra nsfer” according to Ar t icle 11 of t he Law on Suppression of Hu ma n Tr a f f ic k i ng a nd S e x ua l Exploitat ion.

“Af ter t he cour t del ivered its verdict, t he police sent t he t wo men to Prey Sa r pr ison to begin t heir sentence,” he sa id.

L a s t yea r, t he Nat iona l Pol ic e accused A hmad a nd Ismai l of forgi ng docu ments to send t hen-16 - yea r-old Sos Rotors to Saudi Arabia to work a s a ma id, but A h mad repeated ly mainta ined t hat Rotors had lied about her age.

Last yea r, a f ter she was rescued, Rotors defended Ahmad as a “goodhea r ted ma n” a nd sa id she had approached him for t he job.

Isma i l, who stood a s a reser ve candidate in Kampong Cham in the 2013 nationa l elect ions, was ar reste d on Febr ua r y 7 l a s t y e a r by