TEN Cambodian environmental activists whose group campaigned against destructive infrastructure projects and corruption were each sentenced today to six years in prison for conspiring against the state.

Three of the members of Mother Nature Cambodia were also convicted of insulting King Norodom Sihamoni, for which they received a further two years in jail.

Five defendants attended the trial, the others being convicted in absentia. The latter included four Cambodians whose whereabouts are unknown and Spanish national Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, who co-founded the group. He was deported in 2015 and barred from ever returning to Cambodia.