Death Penalty News

Wai Phyo, left, and Zaw Lin on Oct. 3, 2014, shortly after their arrest on Koh Tao. KOH SAMUI — The Appeals Court on Wednesday announced its decision to uphold the death sentences for two migrant workers convicted of a brutal 2014 double homicide on Koh Tao. In its ruling, made secretly on Feb. 23, the Koh Samui court said evidence presented by the state in the original trial was adequate and reliable, and therefore declined to overturn the December 2015 verdict condemning two Myanmar men to die for the deaths of two British tourists. The ruling came as a surprise to defense lawyers, who said they had no knowledge the court made a ruling last week, which it apparently relayed to their clients without notification. “We will definitely petition the Supreme Court,” defense lawyer Nakhon Chompuchart said Wednesday afternoon, adding that he could not comment further because he had not yet seen the decision. Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, migrant workers on the island, were conv...

Hannah Witheridge and Davild Miller The disputed DNA evidence that led to the conviction of 2 Burmese men for the British backpacker murders on a Thai holiday island will be at the centre of an appeal against the verdicts. Lawyers for the 2 men announced on Tuesday that they will file their 200-page appeal on Monday at the courthouse in Koh Samui, accompanied by the mothers of the convicted migrant workers. The next stage in the legal battle will put the spotlight back on the controversy about the police investigation and prosecutions following the killings of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, on the holiday island of Koh Tao. The appeal process by Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, both 22, is expected to drag on for years, extending the anguish for the families of the 2 victims. It will also again focus attention on the contentious roles of British detectives dispatched by David Cameron to observe the investigation by their Thai counterparts in a death penalty case...

Ko Zaw Linn and Ko Wai Phyo The defence team for 2 Myanmar men facing the death penalty for the murder of 2 British tourists on Koh Tao will today file a 2nd application to push back an appeal against the sentence. Lawyers for the 2 Rakhine State natives convicted of murdering the backpackers in Thailand are assembling additional points to contest the forensic evidence that formed a crucial part of the prosecution case. Thai police handling of the case - from failing to secure the murder scene to testing of the DNA sample collection - was internationally decried, but on December 24 the court said the evidence against the Myanmar defendants proved their guilt beyond "reasonable doubt". Ko Zaw Linn and Ko Wai Phyo were sentenced to death. The defence team has appealed the sentence and in collaboration with Australian DNA expert Jane Taupin is questioning the prosecutors' claim that forensic samples lead to a 100 percent match with the defendants. The ap...

Ko Zaw Lin (L) and Ko Wai Phyo (R) Critical evidence used to sentence 2 Burmese bar workers to death last year for the brutal murder of 2 British backpackers in the Thai resort of Koh Tao was secretly supplied by Britain's elite crime-fighting agency. The National Crime Agency secretly assisted the Royal Thai Police with a controversial murder investigation that put 2 Burmese migrants on death row despite government rules designed to stop British law enforcement contributing to capital punishment convictions overseas. BuzzFeed News can reveal that mobile phone evidence handed over by officers from Britain's elite crime-fighting force played a central part in the prosecution of Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, who were sentenced to death on Christmas Eve for the murders of British backpackers David Miller and Hannah Witheridge in Koh Tao. The Foreign Office has previously expressed grave concerns about allegations that the two Burmese men were forced to confess under tortu...

Ko Zaw Lin (L) and Ko Wai Phyo (R): 100 points to contest 2 Myanmar men sentenced to death in Thailand for murder have been given a momentary reprieve: The court yesterday allotted an extra month for their appeal. The defence team applied for and was granted the extension just four days before the initial court deadline. The lawyers said they have assembled over 100 points to contest in the appeal , which will seek to overturn the death penalty verdict handed down to Ko Zaw Lin and Ko Wai Phyo.  On December 24, Thai courts found the Rakhine State natives guilty of murdering 2 British backpackers last year on the resort island Koh Tao. Much of the case rests on hotly contested DNA evidence . The defence team has been working with Australian DNA expert Jane Taupin to question the prosecutors' claim that forensic samples lead to a 100 % match with the defendants.  In their ruling, the judges cite the claim as creditable, and added that the methods used to ...

Myanmar migrants Win Zaw Htun, (R), and Zaw Lin, (L), both 22, in Dec. 2015. Army chief calls on Thailand to review evidence against two Burmese migrant workers whose sentencing for murder of British backpackers has sparked anger in Myanmar Myanmar’s army chief has called on Thailand to review the death sentence against two Burmese men for murdering a pair of British backpackers . General Min Aung Hlaing asked Thailand for a “review of the evidence” against the two men, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported. Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo (also known as Win Zaw Htun) were found guilty on Thursday of killing David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, whose battered bodies were found on a beach in the southern Thai diving resort of Koh Tao in September 2014. The defence accused the police of bungling their investigation and using the men as scapegoats – a charge authorities deny. The verdicts have sparked anger in Myanmar with daily pr...

Myanmar migrants Win Zaw Htun, (R), and Zaw Lin, (L), both 22, in Dec. 2015. A Thai court on Thursday sentenced two Myanmar migrants to death for the murder of two British backpackers on a resort island last year, in a case that raised questions about police competence and the judicial system in Thailand. Human Rights Watch called the verdict "profoundly disturbing," citing the defendants' accusations of police torture that were never investigated and questionable DNA evidence linking them to the crime. Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin, both 22, have denied killing David Miller, 24, and raping then murdering Hannah Witheridge, 23, last year on the island of Koh Tao. Their defense attorney said they planned to appeal. Miller and Witheridge's battered bodies were found Sept. 15, 2014, on the rocky shores of Koh Tao, an island in the Gulf of Thailand known for its white sand beaches and scuba diving. Autopsies showed that the young backpackers, who met on the is...