Myanmar’s army chief has called on Thailand to review the sentencing of two Burmese men to death for murdering a pair of British backpackers after a controversial trial that sparked protests.
General Min Aung Hlaing, head of the country’s military, has asked Thailand for a “review of the evidence” against the two men, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported yesterday.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun 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 last year.
Photo: EPA
The grim killings have sullied Thailand’s reputation as a tourist haven and raised questions over its justice system after the defense 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 protests held outside the Thai embassy in Yangon and at border crossings with the country’s eastern neighbor.
The Global New Light of Myanmar said that Hlaing expressed his concerns about the verdict in a New Year message to senior Thai junta leaders, including Thai Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan.
“The commander-in-chief expressed his respect for Thailand’s judicial process while stressing the need to avoid a situation in which the innocent ... were wrongly punished,” the newspaper reported.
The statement is the strongest suggestion yet that senior Burmese leaders are unhappy with the Thai court’s decision amid a surge of sympathy for the two accused in their homeland.
Protesters in Myanmar were planning a fresh series of rallies outside Yangon’s famed Shwe Dagon pagoda for yesterday afternoon.
Thai prosecutors and police insist their evidence against the men — both migrant workers — was rock solid, including DNA found on Witheridge’s body.
However, the defense, which has vowed to appeal the verdict, disputed the forensic evidence, saying it was improperly collected and processed.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in