WASHINGTON/PHNOM PENH: The United States said on Wednesday it would restrict entry to people involved in the Cambodian government’s actions to undermine democracy, including the dissolution of the main opposition party and imprisonment of its leader. The visa sanctions were the toughest steps by any Western country since a crackdown on critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen ahead of an election next year in which the authoritarian leader seeks to extend more than three decades in power. “We call on the Cambodian government to reverse course by reinstating the political opposition, releasing Kem Sokha, and allowing civil society and media to resume their constitutionally protected activities,” the State Department said in a statement. “The secretary of state will restrict entry into the United States of those individuals involved in undermining democracy in Cambodia. In certain circumstances, family members of those individuals will also be subject to visa restrictions,” it added. Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), last month at the government’s request. Kem Sokha was arrested for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government with US help. He has rejected the accusation as a political ploy. The dissolution of the CNRP has been condemned by some Western countries as the most serious blow to democracy since an international peace deal and U.N.-run elections in the early 1990s ended decades of war and genocide. Cambodia’s government condemned the visa restrictions announced by Washington. Published in Daily Times, December 8th 2017.