Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen’s oldest son Hun Manet – the country’s army commander – was announced by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) this year to be a prime ministerial candidate in the future. Meanwhile, a picture showing Manet taking a selfie with the body of a woman who killed herself some years ago was posted on social media. The picture had been shared many times along with a mixture of comments and reactions. After running Google Reverse Image Search, however, we found the picture was digitally edited.
Social Media Claim
A Facebook page posted a picture about two weeks ago, showing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s oldest son Hun Manet who is Cambodia’s current army commander taking a selfie with a body of a woman who allegedly committed suicide more than 4 years ago.
The picture has been shared multiple times by Khmer-speaking social media users along with a mixture of comments and reactions.
Please see the capture of the post published on July 06, 2022.
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia began checking the picture by running a Google Reverse Image Search which led us to find out facts below.
We found a picture showing Hun Manet taking a selfie that was published on web portals of Nokor Wat newspaper in 2018. The local media published this picture in a story saying PM Hun Sen recalled the day his oldest son was born in 1977.
The picture is seen Manet in a Cambodian military uniform taking a selfie alone on a mountainous green field. No picture of a body of a woman at all.
Please see the capture of the photo of Hun Manet published by the Nokrorwat newspaper in October 2016.
The photo of Hun Manet was flipped from left to right and is seen he used his left hand to hold the phone to take a selfie. Please see the compared image between the original photo and the flipped photo.
We also found a picture of a woman’s body hanging on a wall of a house. This picture is about Ms. Chev Sovathana who was found dead in her rental house in Takeo province in late January 2018. Please see the compared image below.
Some months later, some suspects including Takeo provincial governor Lay Vannak were arrested over the killing. The former Takeo governor and his brother were convicted of the killing and sentenced to more than 10 years imprisonment.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia found out the picture mentioned earlier is altered. The original photo shows Prime Minister Hun Sen’s oldest son Hun Manet taking a selfie alone. And the picture of the woman’s body is of Ms. Chev Sovathana who was killed in early 2018 in Takeo province.
