A Thai court has sentenced two ethnic Uighur men to death over a deadly bomb attack in Bangkok a decade ago.
The defendants, both Chinese nationals, were convicted on charges of premeditated and attempted murder for their role in planting a bomb at the popular Erawan Shrine on August 17, 2015.
This temple is a popular spot for Chinese tourists in the center of Bangkok. The explosion killed 20 people and injured 120.
A member of the four-judge panel that delivered the verdict said, “The defendants committed a single act that violated multiple laws. The court therefore imposed the most severe penalty available under the law, the death penalty.”
They were reportedly linked to the bombing by video, fingerprints and other evidence. Both men reportedly confessed to the crime during preliminary interrogation, but pleaded not guilty when the trial began in 2016.
One of the suspect’s lawyers told the media that both men have denied the charges against them and will appeal against the sentence within a month.
“I don’t admit to any of this. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Youssef M. said after the verdict.
Trial in Erawan shrine attack lasted for a decade
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. After the bombing, police named 17 suspects, but only arrested and charged two people.
Thai officials said the attack was in retaliation for a crackdown on alleged trafficking of Uyghurs into Thailand by human-trafficking gangs.
In the month before the bombing, Thailand’s then-ruling junta had deported more than 100 Uyghurs back to China.
Rights groups say the Uighurs, a Muslim minority in China’s northwest Xinjiang region, face cultural and religious repression at the hands of Beijing. Chinese officials deny cracking down on Uighurs.
However, large-scale camps for Uyghurs have been built in Xinjiang under the guise of “vocational education and training centres” used to combat “extremism and terrorism”.
The trial began in 2016 and ran for ten years with delays due to problems securing translators and, later, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Edited by: Wesley Rahn
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