Cambodia deports Chinese woman in royal photo row

Wang Zia Chao, 43, a Chinese factory supervisor, is escorted by Cambodian police officers after being detained, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia in this photo taken October 22. AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—Cambodia has deported a Chinese woman convicted of desecrating photos of the country’s recently deceased former king in front of enraged factory workers.

National police spokesman Lt. Gen. Kirt Chantharith said Wang Zia Chao left Cambodia on Wednesday to return to China’s Guangdong province.

A Cambodian court on Tuesday gave the garment factory supervisor a one-year suspended jail sentence and fined her 2.5 million riel ($620) for seizing pictures of former King Norodom Sihanouk from workers and destroying them. She had accused the employees of shirking their work.

Tuesday was the end of a week of official mourning for Sihanouk, who died at age 89 in Beijing on October 15. His body was returned to Cambodia on October 17.