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

Twenty people were killed and 120 injured in the attack at the Erawan Shrine, a popular tourist destination

A Thai court has handed out death sentences to two Uyghur men from the north-western Chinese region of Xinjiang for a 2015 bombing in the centre of Bangkok that killed 20 people.

The explosion occurred at the Erawan Shrine in the centre of Bangkok, an area popular with foreign tourists. As well as the 20 people killed, another 120 were injured. Five of the dead were from mainland China and two from Hong Kong.

“The actions of both defendants constitute multiple separate offences,” the court statement said, adding the sentence included punishment for the charge of premeditated murder, which resulted in the death penalty.

The convicted men, Adem Karadag and Yusufu Mieraili, have previously denied all charges brought against them and will appeal against the death sentence, said Chamroen Panompakakorn, one of their lawyers. “Don’t be frightened, there are three other courts,” he said.

Choochat Kanpai, their other lawyer, said the court had not considered multiple factors in their defence, adding he would ask for an extension to file an appeal.

Under Thai law, those appeals will have to be made within a month of a verdict.

The case has taken more than 10 years to reach trial, with prosecutors collecting evidence from hundreds of witnesses. They also struggled to find an appropriate interpreter for the suspects.