Thai court sentences two men to death for 2015 Bangkok shrine bombing

Bangkok South Criminal Court handed down death sentences on June 11, 2026 to Yusufu Mieraili, 36, and Bilal Mohammed, 41, for planting a bomb at the Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok on August 17, 2015, killing 20 people — including seven Chinese nationals and tourists from Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore — and injuring more than 120. A four-judge panel found the defendants guilty of premeditated murder, attempted murder, and illegal possession of explosive materials, citing phone records, video footage, fingerprints, and other evidence placing them at the scene; they were acquitted of charges related to a separate pier bombing. The trial, which began in a military court in 2016 before transferring to a civilian court in 2019 or 2022 depending on the source, was repeatedly delayed by translator shortages, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the arrest of a court interpreter on drug charges, with more than 10,000 pages of testimony and over 400 witnesses involved. Both men denied the charges throughout, alleged they were tortured into initial confessions — a claim the judges rejected — and Mieraili declared after sentencing, 'RIP Thailand's justice system. I don't accept any of this.' No group ever claimed responsibility for the attack, but security analysts widely suspect it was retaliation for Thailand's forced deportation of 109 Uyghurs to China the month before; Thai authorities have alternatively attributed it to a people-smuggling gang. China's foreign ministry welcomed the verdict, while human rights organizations including the International Commission of Jurists have criticized the trial as rife with due process violations; the defendants' lawyers confirmed they will appeal within the legally required one-month window.