Hun Sen mistakenly claimed to have secured Sean’s release

Yesterday (Monday, 7 February 2022), the government of Cambodia claimed to have successfully negotiated for Sean Turnell’s release. AMI released a media statement to that effect; this came one day after Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s statement demanding Sean’s release.

To our grave disappointment, Hun Sen announced last night that the claim was “an unintentional mistake.”

The thumbnail image for this blog post comes from a Guardian article covering Hun Sen’s controversial visit to Myanmar in January as ASEAN chair. At the visit, Hun Sen and Min Aung Hlaing discussed Sean Turnell’s situation, but the discussions were inconclusive.

Coverage of the mishap has been extremely widespread. The most detailed article to date has been this one from Channel News Asia.