Drayton Valley woman among foreigners charged for 'dancing pornographically' in Cambodia

In this photo dated Jan. 25, 2018, issued by Cambodian National Police, a group of unidentified foreigners, who are accused of "dancing pornographically" at a party in Siem Reap town, near the country's famed Angkor Wat temple complex.(Cambodian National Police via AP)

An Alberta woman is among 10 foreigners charged for "dancing pornographically" at a party in Cambodia.

Photos released by Cambodian National Police show a group of men and women rolling around on the floor in sexually suggestive positions while wearing clothes.

Police said 87 foreigners were arrested in total, and 10 were charged.

An aunt identified one of the two Canadian nationals charged as Eden Kazoleas of Drayton Valley. According to Donna Kazoleas, her niece has been travelling abroad since September.

Donna is surprised that Eden, 20, was arrested during her vacation.

“This is really, really concerning. Eden is a very good kid,” Kazoleas told CTV News on the phone on Sunday morning. “She doesn't smoke, she doesn't drink, she does volunteer work to help, and she does very well in school.”

Police said they searched a villa near the Angkor Wat temple on Thursday, where the group arrested was taking part in a pub crawl.

“In the past year, the Cambodian government has been cracking down on all sorts of opposition domestically and also from foreign actors, and this could be part of more of a show to sort of crack down on foreigners,” Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow for SouthEast Asia Joshua Kurlantzick said. “Cambodian officials have been a little bit frustrated by the fact that Westerners come and party near some of their monuments, and also that partly for their own fault they allow a sort of very seedy sex tourism culture.”

The prosecutor told The Associated Press that the 10 foreigners charged could face up to one year in prison.

With files from Nahreman Issa and The Association Press