Cambodia deports US sisters convicted of taking naked photos in temple

Lindsey Adams, 22, and her 20-year-old sister Leslie given suspended six-month prison sentence over pictures taken in Preah Khan temple 

The Angkor Archaeological Park is Cambodia’s most popular tourist destination. The Angkor Archaeological Park is Cambodia’s most popular tourist destination. Photograph: TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images 

Two American sisters have been deported from Cambodia after they were convicted of taking naked photos inside the country’s famed Angkor temple complex, officials said on Sunday.

Lindsey Adams, 22, and her 20-year-old sister Leslie were discovered taking nude shots of each other inside the Preah Khan temple at the world heritage site on Friday, the Cambodian authorities said.

The sisters were both given a suspended six-month prison sentence on Saturday evening on charges of public exposure and making pornography and will be banned from re-entering Cambodia for four years, Koeut Sovannareth, prosecutor at north-western Siem Reap provincial court said.

“The court decided to expel them from Cambodia,” he said, adding that the women had confessed to making a mistake and were fined $250.

Sam Reaksmey, a senior tourism police official in Siem Reap, said the sisters were deported late on Saturday night.

It was the second time in the last fortnight that tourists visiting the sprawling temple complex had been caught without their clothes.

Three French tourists were deported last weekend after they pleaded guilty to taking nude pictures of each other inside another temple within the complex.

Cambodian officials say the women’s actions are offensive because Angkor is considered sacred ground.

“They lowered their pants to their knees and took pictures of their buttocks,” Keat Bunthan, a senior heritage police official in Siem Reap, said on Saturday.

The three deported French men received the same suspended sentence as the American women.

The trio were caught just days after a series of photos of Asian women posing nude at ancient Cambodian temples went viral online and outraged officials who vowed to step up efforts to prevent similar stunts.

The Angkor Archaeological Park, a world heritage site, contains the remains of the different capitals of the Khmer empire, dating from the 9th to the 15th centuries, and is Cambodia’s most popular tourist destination.