- Ieng Thirith
Ieng Thirith (born 1932,
Battambang Province)cite news
url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21748682/
title=Ieng Thirith: A pioneer among female leaders of the Khmer Rouge |author=Ker Munthit, Associated Press |date=Nov. 11, 2007
publisher=msnbc.msn.com |accessdate=2007-11-15] was a member of theKhmer Rouge Central Committee.Early years
Born Khieu Thirith in northwestern Cambodia's
Battambang Province , she came from a relatively wealthy and privileged family, and was the second daughter of a Cambodian judge who abandoned the family duringWorld War II , running off toBattambang with a Cambodian princess.cite web
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HdxEN_OUceUC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=1951+thirith+-wiki&source=web&ots=KEirZrius8&sig=WVxasqlF--1mA5e8P0PcH5rao3M |title=Brother Number One: A Political Biography of Pol Pot |work=p.32 |author=David P. Chandler |date=1999 |publisher=Westview Press |format=ISBN 0813335108 |accessdate=2007-11-15] Her older sister,Khieu Ponnary , later became the wife ofPol Pot .Thirith graduated from the
Lycée Sisowath inPhnom Penh , and while still in Cambodia, she became engaged toIeng Sary , who attended Lycée in the year above her. She went on to Paris with her sister where she studiedEnglish Literature majoring inShakespeare at the Sorbonne. She became the first Cambodian to achieve a degree in English Literature. Thirith married Ieng Sary in the town hall of Paris' 15th arrondissement the summer of 1951 and took her husband's name, becoming Ieng Thirith.Midlife
She returned to her native Cambodia in 1957 and worked as a professor before founding a private English school in 1960.
She was a senior member of the
Democratic Kampuchea (DK) regime. From 1975 to 1979 Thirith was Minister of Social Affairs and Head of Democratic Kampuchea's Red Cross Society.Later years
Thirith lived with her husband Ieng Sary in a luxurious villa on Street 21 in southern Phnom Penh.cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article732431.ece
title=Pol Pot's in-laws face trial |author=Michael Sheridan
date=February 19, 2006 |publisher=timesonline.co.uk
accessdate=2007-11-15] She is rarely seen in public.By 2006, Ieng Thirith and her husband had retained foreign legal counsel to assist with their defense as the
Cambodia Tribunal made progress with courtroom preparation and judge selection. She was arrested, along with ailing Ieng Sary,cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2209695,00.html
title=Leading Khmer Rouge figures arrested |author=Ian MacKinnon, South-east Asia correspondent |date=November 12, 2007 |publisher=Guardian Unlimited |accessdate=2007-11-15] onNovember 12 2007 , at their home in Phnom Penh, after being indicted by the Cambodia Tribunal. [ [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/12/content_7056159.htm "ECCC detains Ieng Sary, wife for questioning"] , Xinhua, November 12, 2007.] She was arrested forcrimes against humanity : [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/12/asia/cambo.php "Ex-official of Khmer Rouge and wife arrested for crimes against humanity"] , Associated Press ("International Herald Tribune"), November 12, 2007.] "planning, direction, coordination and ordering of widespread purges ... and the unlawful killing or murder of staff members from within the Ministry of Social Affairs."References
*
Philip Short . "Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare." Henry Holt and Company, 2005.External links
* [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h2MffpL4bsJk493SjYOlrGpqVShQ Photos] - on afp.google.com
* [http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/ Cambodia Tribunal Monitor]
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