Khieu Samphan
| Khieu Samphan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chairman of the State Presidium of Democratic Kampuchea | |
|
In office 11 April 1976 – 7 January 1979 |
|
| Prime Minister | Pol Pot |
| Preceded by | Norodom Sihanouk |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea | |
|
In office 4 April 1976 – 14 April 1976 |
|
| President | Norodom Sihanouk |
| Preceded by | Penn Nouth |
| Succeeded by | Pol Pot |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
27 July 1931 Rumduol, Svay Rieng, Cambodia |
| Political party | Communist Party |
| Other political affiliations |
Sangkum (1958–67) |
| Spouse(s) | So Socheat |
| Alma mater | University of Montpellier |
| Religion | Buddhism |
Khieu Samphan (Khmer: ខៀវ សំផន; born 27 July 1931) is a former Cambodian communist politician who was the chairman of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) from 1976 until 1979. As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, although Pol Pot remained the General Secretary (highest official) in the party. Khieu Samphan is the second oldest living former Khmer Rouge leader, alongside Nuon Chea. On 7 August 2014, they were convicted and received life sentences for crimes against humanity during the Cambodian Genocide.
Samphan was born in Svay Rieng Province to Khieu Long, who served as a judge under the French Colonial government and his wife Por Kong. Samphan was of Khmer-Chinese extraction, having inherited his Chinese heritage from his maternal grandfather. When Samphan was a young boy, Khieu Long was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to imprisonment, leaving Samphan's mother to take up a living selling fruits and vegetables in Kampong Cham Province where he grew up. Nevertheless, Samphan managed to earn a seat at the Lycée Sisowath and was able to travel to France to pursue his university studies in Economics at the University of Montpellier after which he did a PhD at the University of Paris.
Khieu became a member of the circle of leftist Khmer intellectuals studying in Paris in the 1950s. His 1959 doctoral thesis, "Cambodia's Economy and Industrial Development" advocated national self-reliance and generally sided with dependency theorists in blaming the wealthy, industrialized states for the poverty of the Third World. He was one of the founders of the Khmer Students' Association (KSA), out of which would grow the left-wing revolutionary movements that would so alter Cambodian history in the 1970s, most notably the Khmer Rouge. Once the KSA was shuttered by French authorities in 1956, he founded yet another student organization, the Khmer Students' Union.
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