Khieu Samphan arrested by U.N. Tribunal

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Former Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan was arrested by a United Nations-backed genocide tribunal trying those accused of mass killings in Cambodia.

His arrest comes less than a week after he was brought to Phnom Penh and taken to a hospital for medical treatment.

A U.N. news release said the ailing 76-year-old former president, who served between 1976 and 1979, was arrested on a warrant issued by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, which gave no details on the charges.

CNN, quoting a U.N. spokesman, reported Khieu Samphan was charged with crimes against humanity.

He is the fifth Khmer Rouge official to be brought before the tribunal, the news release said. Two lawyers have been assigned to defend him.

The tribunal is charged with trying those responsible for the killings of about 2 million people between April 1975 and January 1979, when the Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown by Vietnam.

Former Khmer officials previously arrested include foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Nuon Chea, and Kaing Guek Eav, CNN reported. The most notorious among them, Khmer Rouge leader and former Prime Minister Pol Pot, died of natural causes in 1998.