Thai court sentences two men to death over Bangkok shrine bombing

Sat Jun 13 2026 13:03:08 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Thailand's court sentenced two Uyghur men to death for the 2015 Erawan shrine bombing that killed 20 people, amid a decade‑long trial marked by alleged procedural flaws.

In June 2026 a Thai court convicted two Uyghur men of planning and executing the 2015 bomb attack that devastated the Erawan shrine in Bangkok, killing 20 and injuring over 120. The officials cited phone‑call records and alleged bomb‑making materials, but critics point to a rushed investigation, damaged security footage and possible torture for confessions. The case has been prolonged for over ten years, raising human‑rights concerns from international bodies. The accused now plan to appeal the verdict, while China’s forced repatriation of Uyghur men months before the bomb has fueled speculation of reprisals.

Thai court sentences two men to death over Bangkok shrine bombing

A Thai court has convicted two men of Thailand’s worst ever terrorist attack and sentenced them to death. The two men, both from China’s Uyghur minority, were found guilty of planning and detonating a powerful bomb on the evening of 17 August 2015, next to the popular Erawan shrine in central Bangkok.

Reuters: The blast had ripped through people praying at the Erawan shrine

Twenty people were killed and more than 120 were injured, when a bomb exploded a short distance from the BBC bureau in Bangkok. The blast ripped through the shrine’s visitors and toppled motorbike riders, some of whom were set on fire.

The investigation was rushed. The shrine was reopened two days later, with the crater filled in. Many security cameras were non‑operational, yet grainy footage captured a man with long hair and thick glasses placing a backpack under a bench before fleeing. Police also showed footage of a second bomb detonated harmlessly in a canal.

Within two weeks of the attack the authorities arrested Bilal Mohammad, who was found hiding in a Bangkok suburb with bomb‑making chemicals and a forged Turkish passport. His accomplice, Yusufu Mierali, was apprehended in Cambodia and handed over to Thai authorities. Both were identified as Uyghurs; despite no clear evidence that the bomb was planted by these suspects, they were charged and later convicted.

Both men were held in military custody and claimed they were tortured into confessions, which were later withdrawn once the trial began in a military court. Delays under a decade followed, largely due to a lack of Uyghur-speaking translators and the defendants’ refusal of translators offered by the Chinese embassy. The International Commission of Jurists warned that the protracted trial and alleged abuses violated human‑rights standards.

Judges justified the conviction primarily on phone‑call records showing both men near the blast site and communicating with each other. The lawyers for the accused have announced they will appeal against the verdict. The case raises questions over the fairness of Thailand’s justice system, especially in the context of its controversial 2025 repatriation of Uyghur men to China, which many saw as a target for retaliation.