Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Sep 17 (AP) Cambodia's prime minister boasted Friday of barging uninvited into a video conference call hosted by his political opponents.
Hun Sen, an enthusiastic user of social media, said he intruded into a Zoom call made by his opponents to warn them that he and his spies were keeping a close eye on them.
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Hun Sen suddenly appeared on the Sept. 9 call held by former members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was dissolved in 2017 by a Cambodian court ahead of the 2018 general election.
The country's courts are widely seen as doing the government's bidding, in this case eliminating the sole credible opposition party ahead of the polls. The opposition group had been expected to present a strong challenge to Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party.
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Clips of part of the video intrusion have been circulating on social media. They show Hun Sen holding a 12-minute conversation with Long Ry, a former opposition lawmaker.
In their chat, Hun Sen complained that members of the former opposition party insulted him personally even though, he claimed, he had tried to promote a “culture of dialogue”.
Most senior members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party fled into exile after the party was dissolved. Hun Sen has been in power for more than 36 years and said repeatedly he has no intention of stepping down soon. Human rights groups and Western nations accuse his government of suppressing democratic and human rights.
A spokesman for Hun Sen's party, Sok Eysan, initially denied that the intrusion and exchange had taken place, saying the video clip was a fabrication.
Hun Sen, however, in the course of a live television broadcast on Friday marking the start of a campaign to vaccinate children aged 6 to 11 for the coronavirus, acknowledged the exchange and said he had listened in on about 20 previous calls of his opponents without revealing his presence or showing his face.
Hun Sen also wrote on his Facebook page about his exploit, stressing that he had not been reaching out to negotiate, but to warn them against disruptive activities.
Crashing other people's Zoom conferences became a small fad last year when use of the application skyrocketed during the pandemic as many people began working at home. It is usually accomplished by obtaining a password, which is often casually circulated online to people invited to participate in the group call. (AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)