Death row reprieve for backpacker killers
TWO migrant workers on death row in Thailand for killing two British backpackers in 2014 had their sentences commuted to life in prison yesterday, thanks to a royal decree.
The two men, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, from Myanmar, denied murdering 24-year-old David Miller and rap- ing and killing Hannah Witheridge, 23, after their battered bodies were found on a beach on the island of Koh Tao.
The high-profile case caused extensive controversy because of allegations 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 affect Thailand’s lucrative tourist industry.
The two men were convicted and sentenced in 2015 and the verdict was upheld by an appeals court in 2017 and the Supreme Court in August 2019.
Human Rights Watch called the guilty verdict “profoundly disturbing”.
Their sentences will be cut after King Maha Vajiralongkorn showed clemency, their lawyer, Nakhon Chompuchat, said yesterday.
“The two are eligible under a section in the royal pardon decree to get their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment,” he said.
“They will also have a chance to get their sentences reduced further on good behaviour.” The decree said the royal pardons were granted to the men to commemorate the king’s birthday on July 28 and to “illustrate the king’s clemency”.
It was not immediately clear how many prisoners were eligible for pardons or reduced sentences under different criteria listed in the decree.