Hasina visits Genocide Museum in Cambodia, pays tribute to ‘father prince’

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum on the first day of her three-day official visit to Cambodia.

Before visiting the museum in Phnom Penh on Sunday afternoon, she placed wreaths at the Independence Monument and statue of King Norodom Sihanouk, known to the Cambodian people as Samdech Euv or ‘father prince’.

Earlier, the red carpet was rolled out to receive her at Phnom Penh International Airport just after 12pm local time when she reached the South-East Asian country on the state visit.

After taking rest for some time at Hotel Sofitel, where she is staying, the prime minister went to the Independence Monument around 3:30pm.  

Cambodia built the monument in 1958 after independence from France in 1953.

A team of the Cambodian armed forces gave Hasina a guard of honour when she placed a wreath at the monument.

After paying tribute to King Sihanouk, she went to the Genocide Museum.

The prime minister signed the visitors’ book and handed some books on the history of Bangladesh’s independence to the museum authorities.

Her sister Sheikh Rehana, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Chief Coordinator for SDG affairs in PMO Abul Kalam Azad, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam and Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul also accompanied the prime minister during the visit to the museum.

Bangladeshi business leaders, including FBCCI President Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, were also present.

The museum was built at a former high school compound which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 or S-21 by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 until its fall in 1979.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia convicted the chief of Tuol Sleng Prison, Kaing Kek Iew alias Duch for crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and sentenced him to life imprisonment on July 26, 2010.

The genocide in the prison is also an internationally recognised issue. UNESCO included it in the Memory of the World Register.

During Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971, the Pakistani forces and their local collaborators also conducted genocide. Bangladesh is seeking global recognition of the crime against humanity.

During Hasina’s visit, Bangladesh and Cambodia are expected to sign two treaties and nine agreements

She will hold a bilateral meeting with her Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen and meet King Norodom Sihamoni.

The prime minister will attend a dinner at the Bangladeshi embassy and meet expatriates living in the country on the first day of her visit.

Bangladesh will rename one prominent street in its capital after the founding father of Cambodia and vice versa, Foreign Minister Ali said before the visit.

Hasina will return to Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon.