JAMES Ricketson’s family have said they are “absolutely devastated” after the Australian filmmaker was jailed for six years on espionage charges.

A guilty verdict was delivered in a Cambodian court by a bench of three judges in Phnom Penh on Friday.

The 69-year-old was whisked away in a prison van yelling: “Which country am I spying for?”

Afterward, Mr Ricketson’s nephew Bim Ricketson said he was extremely concerned about his welfare, noting he was not in perfect health.

“We would be very concerned about his health over six years in those conditions and his mental state,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“There are no mattresses and, importantly, very little medical attention available. For someone who is sick and has a number of ailments, it is very challenging for him.”

He hoped his uncle would be found innocent, adamant he was not involved in espionage.

“James is a filmmaker. He is a humanitarian. He cares deeply for the Cambodian people. Especially the poor people,” he said.

“There is no way he is a spy, so it is devastating that he could get a sentence like this for being the person that he is.”

The Ricketson family issued a statement today saying: “The toll of this result, for James, and our whole family and friends is immense. It has, and continues to be a truly brutal experience.”

Bim Ricketson on James Ricketson's prison sentence: We’re hoping that the Australia government will be doing everything they can to help us … so he can get out.



MORE: https://t.co/53eI6Sv4HG #newsday pic.twitter.com/W7QHDpKnE7 — Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 31, 2018

“We are in utter shock at this outcome and that James, an innocent Australian, has been sentenced so harshly. Our family lives this tragedy daily.”

Before the verdict, Mr Ricketson told an AAP reporter he was confident he would be found not guilty of spying for foreign states.

Mr Ricketson’s family have called on the Morrison Government to intervene.

His adopted daughter Roxanne Holmes said she “can’t believe” the decision.

Ms Holmes s tarted a petition to urge the government to step in, so far it has received 78,000 signatures.

Speaking in Jakarta, Indonesia today Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Mr Ricketson would receive consulate support.

“He can expect to get all the consular and other support from the Australian government you would expect in these circumstances,” Mr Morrison told reporters.

“As usual in these types of events it is best to deal with these things calmly and directly and in a way which best assists a citizen.”

Mr Ricketson was detained almost 15 months ago after flying a drone without a permit over a political rally organised by the now-banned opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP). He has always denied the charges.

However, the court heard he had offered footage of the rally to then CNRP leader Sam Rainsy for party use and it contained secret locations of security deployments.

His computer was seized and he faced a lengthy investigation, involving 15,000 emails and 1600 pages of files, before being charged with espionage dating to 1995.

However, prosecutor Seang Sok produced only a handful of emails and 10 photos as evidence he said tied Mr Ricketson to exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who was accused by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen of fomenting a “colour revolution” backed by the United States.

Those emails included a letter for then Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a query to Sam Rainsy regarding an arrest warrant and another containing detail of Hun Sen’s personal body guard unit - information Mr Ricketson argued was freely available.

However, it was argued the emails suggested Mr Ricketson enjoyed a close relationship with Sam Rainsy that went well beyond that of an independent journalist who was simply doing his job - a cornerstone of his defence.

He offered to formulate a 2013 election media strategy, sought CNRP advice on opinion pieces he wrote and told the court: “My opinion at the time was that the CNRP was the better political party.”

His lawyers said that did not make him a spy.

The prosecutor declined to say who Mr Ricketson was spying for and instead focused his questions on the ABC and the Australian Film Commission, which funded his films.

FILMMAKERS CALL FOR INTERVENTION

Human Rights Watch slammed the decision saying Mr Ricketson was used as a “scapegoat” in a political game between Hun Sen and the CNRP.

HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said the verdict “exposed everything wrong with Cambodia’s judicial system.”

He also slammed the Australian government, saying they needed to stand up for Mr Ricketson.

He said the government was “pathetic” in protecting their citizens and felt Australia should have taken a stronger stand to fight for Mr Ricketson “from day one”.

In response to the sentence, Australia’s Directors Guild has also called on the Morrison government to intervene and fight the decision.

“We call on the new Foreign Minister Marise Payne to contact her counterpart in Cambodia and seek clemency for James and for him to be sent home,” Kingston Anderson, CEO of the Australian Directors Guild said.

“Based on the evidence and what we know of James we do not believe he was spying for anyone. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and may have contravened some local regulations but he was not spying for any government.”

Ms Payne’s office has been contacted for comment.

Mr Ricketson’s case won widespread attention and came amid a crackdown on opposition politicians and the media before elections in July, when Hun Sen’s ruling party won all 125 seats in the National Assembly.

The ADG lobbied the Turnbull government when Mr Ricketson was first arrested and have been active in supporting his bid for justice.

Then foreign minister Julie Bishop intervened after a petition demanding Mr Ricketson’s released garnered more than 70,000 signatures, including high-profile actors Bryan Brown, Sam Neill and director Peter Weir who testified on Mr Ricketson’s behalf.

The group hopes the sentence can be appealed.

Australia’s media union MEAA has also condemned the decision.