Australian film maker and convicted spy James Ricketson will not seek an appeal against his Cambodian conviction for espionage and six-year jail term, enabling him to seek a royal pardon, his family said.
"My father has decided to submit a plea for a king's pardon. The Australian Government has indicated to us that they will throw their full support behind this submission," Ricketson's son Jesse said on Wednesday.
"This is no longer a legal issue but a humanitarian one. It is a question of compassion and mercy. My dad is an old man with failing health suffering through incredibly difficult conditions," he added.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne confirmed the government's support for the application.
"I welcome today's statement by the Ricketson family that Mr Ricketson intends to formally lodge a petition for clemency," Senator Payne told AAP in a statement.
She said the the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would continue to work with his family and provide Mr Ricketson full consular support.
Ricketson, 69, was found guilty of espionage and collecting information for "foreign states" that was damaging to the national security of Cambodia, before a bench of three judges.
He was arrested in June last year after flying a drone over a political rally organised by the now banned Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), without a permit, and sentenced to six years behind bars.
James Ricketson in a Cambodian village before his arrest in June 2017. Source: Supplied
"Six years in there will kill him. We need to get him home. I, as his son, on behalf of all of his family and loved ones, am also personally asking for mercy so we can do so,"Jesse said.
Under Cambodian law a pardon can not be issued until the appeals process has been exhausted or dropped. It is normally requested by the convicted with the government then asking King Norodom Sihamoni for a royal approval.
The court heard Ricketson had captured footage of secret security deployments and offered it to then CNRP leader Sam Rainsy, who now lives in exile.
However, prosecutors would not say which country Ricketson was spying for, or call one witness in a trial that was widely criticised by human rights groups and media organisations, who also criticised the Australian government for not doing enough.
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