‘Dirty dancing’ Westerners deported from Cambodia

PHNOM PENH (AP) — Seven Westerners arrested last month for allegedly posting pornographic photos on social media of themselves engaged in sexually suggestive dancing have been deported from Cambodia, a court official said yesterday.

Yim Srang, a court spokesman in the northwestern province of Siem Reap, said the court decided that the seven — who were freed on bail last week — could no longer stay in Cambodia.

Ten young Westerners — five from the United Kingdom, two from Canada, and one each from Norway, the Netherlands and New Zealand — were detained when police raided a commercially organized party at a rented villa in Siem Reap town and found people dancing by a swimming pool at an event described as a pub crawl. Siem Reap is near the famous Angkor Wat temple complex.

Police said those caught in the raid had been “dancing pornographically” and offended Cambodian standards of morality.

The only women among the 10 detained people, Canadians Eden Kazoleas and Jessica Drolet, arrived by plane in Toronto on Friday night, and spoke briefly to the press.

“I did not know, nor did I think attending a pool party would be offensive in Cambodian culture,” said Kazoleas, a 19-year-old from Alberta.

Drolet, a 26-year-old from Ontario, expressed similar sentiments.

The two women said they were happy to have each other’s company during the ordeal.

“I was lucky to have Jessica in there with me,” Kazoleas said. “As much as I wish she didn’t have to go through it, I couldn’t have done it without her,” she said.