A court in Thailand has sentenced two Uyghur men to death after finding them guilty of carrying out the deadly 2015 bombing of a shrine that killed 20 people in the worst-ever terrorist attack in the country.
The decision follows a 10-year-long trial and police investigation that critics have said were riddled with flaws.
Bilal Mohammed, 41, and Yusufu Mieraili, 36, both belonging to China’s ethnic Uyghur Muslim minority, were arrested shortly after the bombing and were charged with a variety of offences ranging from murder to possession of explosives. They both pleaded not guilty.
Twenty people were killed, and more than 120 people were injured after a powerful bomb was detonated on the evening of 17 August 2015 near Erawan Shrine, a popular tourist spot in central Bangkok.
The blast ripped through the shrine, killing people praying and visiting.
On Thursday, a four-judge panel at Bangkok South Criminal Court handed a guilty verdict to a pair, saying their actions amounted to premeditated murder and delivered the maximum punishment.
They were also ordered to pay more than 1m baht for damage to public property.
“The defendants committed a single act that violated multiple laws. The court therefore imposed the harshest penalty available under the law, the death sentence,” a judge said, according to AFP.
The court ruled the two were found guilty due to overwhelming evidence against them and were unable to provide substantial evidence proving otherwise.
After the judges left the courtroom, Mieraili shouted in broken Thai that he rejected the ruling and was innocent.
‘’RIP Thailand’s justice system. I don’t accept any of this. I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. "I did not receive justice – I ask Thai people to help me."
Mieraili learned Thai while in detention, according to his lawyer.
He also speaks English and on Thursday was asked to translate the proceedings into Uyghur for Bilal because only an English interpreter was available in court.
Chuchart Kanpai, one of the defence lawyers, said they will appeal as there are still several aspects of the case that were not taken into consideration.
The trial was repeatedly delayed for several reasons, including difficulties finding suitable translators.
Thai authorities said they were unable to find a Uyghur-speaking translator, while the defendants rejected the translators offered by the Chinese embassy. The delays continued for more than 10 years.
The men said they suffered mistreatment and torture in jail after their arrests.
But the judges said Thursday there was no evidence of torture and that investigators did not appear to have coerced the confessions.
The International Commission of Jurists is among human rights organisations that have criticised the conduct and unusually lengthy duration of the trial, arguing that the proceedings were so flawed that the two suspects should have been released.
"The investigation, prosecution, and trial of Bilal Mohammed and Yusufu Mieraili have been rife with human rights violations and have exposed some of the systemic deficiencies of Thailand's criminal justice system,” it said.
The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention also said the pair were denied due process during their arrest and custody.
In the immediate aftermath of the bombing that shocked Thailand, authorities rounded up 17 suspects in connection with the blast, but only three were apprehended.
Charges against a Thai woman were dropped in 2024 due to a lack of evidence.
The two men who have now been convicted were arrested within two weeks of the attack.
Mohammad was found hiding in a house on the outskirts of Bangkok and was also found with chemicals suitable for making bombs. Authorities said he had forged a Turkish passport under the name Adem Karadag.
Mieraili was arrested a fortnight later in Cambodia and handed over to Thailand for investigation.
Thai police initially said neither of the two had planted the bomb. But they later charged Mohammad with the charges of planting the bomb.
Several activists also said he had little resemblance to the man seen in the security camera footage that showed a man with long hair and thick glasses leaving a backpack under a bench and walking away.
Police said they believe Mieraili detonated the bomb minutes after a backpack containing the device was allegedly left at the shrine by Mohammad.
No group claimed responsibility for the 2015 bombing, but security experts quickly linked the act of retaliation against the forced deportation of more than 100 Uyghurs from Thailand in the previous month.
China has faced criticism for the perceived tough restrictions it has imposed on religious and cultural freedoms in Xinjiang, where the majority of Uyghurs live.
Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday welcomed the verdict.
"The terrorist bombing that year killed 20 people, including seven Chinese citizens, and injured more than 100 others. The perpetrators were utterly inhumane and guilty of heinous crimes," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian said.
"China supports Thailand in conducting the trial in accordance with the law and severely punishing the perpetrators."
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