13 Facts About Ieng Thirith

Ieng Thirith was an influential intellectual and politician in the Khmer Rouge, although she was neither a member of the Khmer Rouge Standing Committee nor of the Central Committee.

Ieng Thirith was the wife of Ieng Sary, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea's Khmer Rouge regime.

Ieng Thirith served as Minister of Social Affairs from October 1975 until the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

Ieng Thirith was the sister of Khieu Ponnary, who was the first wife of Pol Pot.

Ieng Thirith was arrested by the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia in November 2007 with her husband, Ieng Sary, on suspicion of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ieng Thirith went on to Paris with her sister, where she studied English literature, majoring in Shakespeare at the Sorbonne.

Ieng Thirith became the first Cambodian to achieve a degree in English literature.

Ieng Thirith returned to her native Cambodia in 1957 and worked as a professor before founding a private English school in 1960.

Ieng Thirith was a senior member of the Democratic Kampuchea regime.

From 1975 to 1979, Ieng Thirith was Minister of Social Affairs and Action and Head of Democratic Kampuchea's Red Cross Society.

Ieng Thirith was arrested, along with ailing Ieng Sary, on 12 November 2007, at their home in Phnom Penh, after being indicted by the Cambodia Tribunal.

On 13 December 2011, appeals judges reversed the ruling to release Ieng Thirith and ordered new medical exams to see how mentally fit she was to stand trial.

Ieng Thirith died on 22 August 2015 at the age of 83 from complications of the disease.