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28 March 2024

Cambodia jails monk for filming naked women

Published
By AFP

A Cambodian Buddhist monk has been jailed after secretly filming hundreds of women as they bathed naked with holy water at a temple, a judge said on Saturday.

Net Khai, 37, was sentenced to one year in prison for producing and distributing pornography after allegations emerged that he taped more than 600 women pouring sacred water over themselves in a pagoda bathroom.

Judge Kim Dany said the former monk was handed the prison term on Friday, over charges relating to a 23-year-old victim who approached police and said that people had been sharing video clips of the women on their mobile phones.

Another three women have since come forward to the court to file complaints.

The judge said the court also fined Net Khai two million riel ($500) and ordered him to pay compensation of $10,000 to the victim.

"He still faces similar charges brought against him from three other women," she said.

Net Khai was arrested in June at his pagoda in the Cambodian capital and was subsequently stripped of his religious status.

Buddhist monks are revered in Cambodia, where Buddhists make up more than 90 percent of the population.

There are more than 55,000 monks across the country, which has 4,300 temple complexes.