Koh Tao | Thai king commutes death sentences for two men over killings of UK tourists

The migrant workers from Myanmar had faced the death penalty for murdering Britons David Miller and Hannah Witheridge in 2014.

Two men on death row in Thailand for the murders of two British backpackers have had their sentences commuted to life in prison.

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Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin, migrant workers from Myanmar, were sentenced to death in 2015 after being found guilty of murdering David Miller, 24, and murdering and raping Hannah Witheridge, 23.

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Their badly beaten bodies were discovered on a beach on the holiday island of Koh Tao in 2014.

Previous appeals failed, with the Supreme Court upholding the guilty verdicts in 2019.

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The ruling meant the Thai King was the only person who could overturn the death sentences.

A lawyer for the men confirmed to Sky News that a royal decree published on Friday means that they will now serve life in prison instead. Thai lawyers say Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin could be released in 12 years and 6 months.

The decree said the royal pardons were granted to commemorate the King Maha Vajiralongkorn's birthday on July 28 and to "illustrate the king's clemency", according to Reuters.

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Source: news.sky.com, Siobhan Robbins, August 15, 2020

Thai king commutes death sentences for two men over killings of UK tourists

Two men on death row in Thailand for the murders of two British backpackers have had their sentences commuted to life in prison.

Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin, migrant workers from Myanmar, were sentenced to death in 2015 after being found guilty of murdering David Miller, 24, and murdering and raping Hannah Witheridge, 23.

A lawyer for the men confirmed to Sky News that a royal decree published on Friday means that they will now serve life in prison instead.

The mothers of the convicted men travelled to Bangkok in October to ask for a pardon from the Thai monarch.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News at the time, Phyu Shwe Nu and Taw May Thein maintained their sons were innocent.

"Don't kill my son," Phyu Shwe Nu sobbed. "My son didn't do it, my son didn't kill them."

Both men have consistently denied the murders, saying their original confessions were obtained under duress.

Thai police say evidence, including DNA, found at the scene and on Ms Witheridge's body led to their arrests.

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The family of Mr Miller has repeatedly expressed its view that justice has been done and the evidence against the men was overwhelming.

However, following the Supreme Court verdict in 2019, Mr Miller's father Ian said he hoped the death penalty would be withdrawn in exchange for prison sentences.

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Source: minsterfm.com, Staff, August 15, 2020

Thailand commutes death sentences for two men over killings of UK tourists

2 migrant workers from Myanmar convicted over the 2014 killings of 2 young British tourists on a Thai holiday island have had their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment.

Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were among many convicts in Thai prisons whose sentences were reduced under a clemency decree issued by King Maha Vajiralongkorn to mark his 68th birthday on July 28, their lawyer, Nadthasiri Bergman, confirmed.

The decree, which appeared to cover thousands of prisoners, took effect on Friday with its publication in the Royal Gazette.

The 2 denied killing 24-year-old David Miller and raping and killing 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge, whose battered bodies were found on a beach on the island of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, a popular diving destination.

The high-profile case caused extensive controversy because of allegations that police mishandled evidence and beat the suspects into making confessions.

There were suspicions they were scapegoats for a crime that police were under pressure to solve because it could adversely effect Thailand’s lucrative tourist industry.

A well-known Thai forensics expert testified that DNA evidence central to the prosecution case did not link them to the scene, and Human Rights Watch called the guilty verdict “profoundly disturbing”.

The Supreme Court in August last year upheld their murder convictions and sentences.

It dismissed allegations of physical mistreatment and mishandling of forensic evidence, saying the work was handled by respectable institutions and it found no proof of torture.

The death penalty is rarely carried out in Thailand.

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Source: centralfifetimescom, Staff, August 15, 2020

Thai king commutes sentences of two men on death row for murdering British backpackers

Hannah Witheridge (left), 23, and David Miller, 24.

(CNN) — Two men on death row for killing pair of British backpackers on a Thai island in 2014 have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment by the country's king.—

The bodies of 23-year-old Hanna Witheridge and 24-year-old David Miller were discovered in September 2014 on a beach on Koh Tao, a small island in the Gulf of Thailand.

They were partially undressed and had sustained severe head injuries. Witheridge had been raped.

Two Burmese men, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo -- also known as Win Zaw Htun -- were arrested almost two weeks after the bodies were found.

In 2015, they were both found guilty and sentenced to death. Now, they will instead face life imprisonment, said Nakhon Chompuchat, the two men's defense lawyer.

On Friday, the Thai king passed a mass royal pardon for those on death row who have exhausted all appeal options and have never before received a royal pardon.

"This time will be their first time. So for this time, they are entitled to receive it," said Chompuchat. "They are no longer in the execution queue."

The royal pardon was created in the spirit of the king's birthday, to offer convicted prisoners the opportunity to "reverse their behavior and become good citizens," says the text of the law.

High profile case

The two men, from Myanmar's Rakhine state, were working in the hospitality industry on the island at the time of the killings. After their arrest, they confessed but later recanted, saying their admissions of guilt were made under duress.

The murders on the popular dive island of Koh Tao drew intense media attention from across the world. Defense lawyers for the two men later alleged that police had rushed the investigation to preserve Thailand's image as one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.

The defense argued that the investigation was flawed due to "alleged mishandling of forensic evidence, abuse of suspects and intimidation of witnesses," according to a previous statement issued by the Migrant Worker Rights Network, a rights group assisting the defense team.

Thai police said forensic evidence, including DNA samples from cigarette butts found near the bodies, tied the men to the scene.

The first appeal upheld the guilty verdict in 2017. The case was appealed again, leading the Supreme Court to uphold the verdict and death sentence. The Supreme Court ruled that the forensic evidence was "clear, credible, and detailed," and refuted suggestions that the police had mishandled the case.

In 2018, Thailand lifted a de facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty, executing a man by lethal injection in the country's first execution since August 2009, rights groups said.

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Source: CNN, Jessie Yeung and Kocha Olarn, August 16, 2020

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