Cambodia deports US sisters in Angkor nude photo scandal

Lindsey Adams, 22, and her 20-year-old sister Leslie were discovered taking nude shots of each other inside the Preah Khan temple at the world heritage site on Friday.

The sisters were both given a suspended six-month prison sentence on Saturday evening on public exposure and making pornography charges and will be banned from re-entering Cambodia for four years, Koeut Sovannareth, prosecutor at northwestern Siem Reap provincial court told AFP.

“The court decided to expel them from Cambodia,” he said, adding that the women had confessed to making a mistake and were fined $250.

Sam Reaksmey, a senior tourism police official in Siem Reap, said the sisters were deported late Saturday night.

It is the second time in the last fortnight that tourists visiting the sprawling temple complex have been caught without their clothes.

Three French tourists were deported last weekend after they pleaded guilty to taking nude pictures of each other inside another temple within the complex.

Cambodian officials say the women’s actions are offensive because Angkor is considered sacred ground.

“They lowered their pants to their knees and took pictures of their buttocks,” Keat Bunthan, a senior heritage police official in Siem Reap, told AFP on Saturday.

The three deported French men received the same suspended sentence as the American women.

The trio were caught just days after a series of photos of Asian women posing nude at ancient Cambodian temples went viral online and outraged officials who vowed to step up efforts to prevent similar stunts.

The Angkor Archaeological Park, a world heritage site, contains the remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, dating from the 9th to the 15th centuries, and is Cambodia’s most popular tourist destination. – AFP