Old image of Cambodia's Hun Sen in hospital misrepresented amid tensions with Thailand
- Published on November 18, 2025 at 06:02
- 2 min read
- By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Social media users in Thailand and Cambodia have continued to trade false claims and nationalistic taunts online amid renewed tensions between the two countries. Posts alleging Cambodia's former prime minister Hun Sen sought dialysis treatment at a Thai hospital are false; AFP found the image cited as evidence dates back to 2017, when the senior politician was briefly hospitalised in Singapore.
"Hun Sen is seriously ill. He asked to come to Thailand for dialysis. He secretly requested [Thailand] for urgent help. #KarmaIsAtWork," reads a Thai-language Facebook post published November 7, 2025.
The post shares an image of a bedridden Hun Sen accompanied by his family -- including his son, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.
Superimposed text on the photo says: "Karma caught up! Hun Sen is severely ill -- had to ask Thailand for dialysis at Phramongkutklao Hospital," referring to a military hospital in Bangkok.
Other posts sharing the same claim appeared elsewhere on X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, with captions mocking the Cambodian politician.
Although a ceasefire ended five days of border clashes in July that killed at least 43 on both sides, cyber tensions between Cambodian and Thai users have persisted (archived link).
Social media users from both countries have repeatedly spread old, unrelated or AI-generated images in what has become a sustained disinformation blitz.
Border tensions flared again on November 12, when Phnom Penh reported a civilian was shot dead during an exchange of small arms at the border (archived link). The Royal Thai Army blamed Cambodian troops it said had "fired shots into Thai territory".
Cambodia's information ministry shared pictures and videos it alleged showed wounded civilians, including one man being treated in an ambulance with a bloodied leg. AFP was unable to verify the provenance of the images.
But the photo of bedridden Hun Sen is unrelated to the recent flare-up -- it was taken from an Instagram post originally published in 2017.
A reverse image search traced the image to a May 4, 2017 post on Hun Sen's Instagram account, which includes three other similar photos (archived link).
The Khmer-language caption says Hun Sen had to cancel his scheduled meetings that week due to his hospitalisation in Singapore. He cited "extreme exhaustion" as the cause.
Subsequent keyword searches found the image featured in reports from Cambodian and Thai news outlets about Hun Sen's hospitalisation (archived links here and here).
AFP found no credible reports that Hun Sen has recently received medical treatment in Thailand.
Phramongkutklao Hospital in Bangkok told AFP it cannot comment on patient stays due to confidentiality. AFP contacted Cambodian and Thai authorities for comment, but responses were not forthcoming.
Shortly after the claim circulated, Hun Sen appeared at a November 10, 2025 meeting with Takahashi Fumiaki, president of the Japan-Cambodia Association, to discuss cooperation and investment opportunities (archived links here and here).
In 2020, AFP debunked social media posts claiming Hun Sen had contracted Covid-19 using a similar photo from his Singapore hospital stay.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
