Cambodia Denies Turning Over Australian, Norwegian Activists to Vietnam

 

By Teng Yalirozy - CamNess | 2026.10.07

PHNOM PENH – Cambodia has rejected a claim that it had sent Australian democracy campaigner Hiep Tran and his Norwegian-Vietnamese colleague to Vietnam, where they were detained for alleged terrorist links.

Hiep Tran and Duc Thuan Nguyen went missing on September 18 after traveling from Bangkok to Phnom Penh to meet Vietnamese human rights activists for training.

Hiep Tran is the founder of the Australian Alliance to Combat Human Trafficking.

The pair and a Vietnamese, Thai Cong Trung Son, were reported to have been arrested by the Vietnamese authorities for illegally crossing from Cambodia to Vietnam and were accused of a link to the Viet Tan organization.

The US-based group is described by Vietnam and by Cambodian authorities as a terrorist group. However, the organisation calls itself a pro-democracy group that fights for human rights. It denies any involvement in terrorism

The trio were charged over an alleged plot to carry out terrorist activities in Vietnam.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior said the trio were arrested at the My Quy Tay border guard station in Tay Ninh province on September 18. Hiep Tran and Duc Thuan Nguyen have no record of leaving Cambodia after flying in on September 15

“The ministry denies any allegations and declares that the competent authorities of Cambodia did not arrest and hand over the aforementioned individuals to the Vietnamese authorities,” the ministry said on October 7.

Australia’s ABC reported that the Viet Tan group said the men were abducted in Cambodia and “forcibly taken” to Vietnam, even though they were planning to leave Phnom Penh for Bangkok the next morning. The group called the abduction “an act of transnational repression.”

“There is no logical reason why they would enter Vietnam the night before,” ABC reported, quoting Viet Tan representative Phong Nguyen.

The Viet Tan group condemned what it called the abduction of the members in Cambodia and Hanoi's fabricated charges.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government has been in touch with Hiep Tran's family and is offering consular support.

The disappearances of Hiep Tran and Duc Thuan Nguyen also led to Cambodia being condemned by Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, and Lawyers for Lawyers at the United Nations Human Rights Council's 63rd Regular Session.

 

 

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