Thailand murders: Amnesty International call for police torture probe
24 December 2015
From the section UK
Media captionDeath sentence for UK tourist killers
Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into allegations that two Burmese men, convicted of murdering two UK tourists, were tortured by Thai police.
Champa Patel from Amnesty said the police in Thailand had a “long and disturbing” history of using torture.
Convicted murderers Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo now face the death penalty.
A Thai court ruled on Thursday that they killed Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24.
The British backpackers’ bodies were found on a Koh Tao island beach in September 2014.
Miss Witheridge, from Hemsby, Norfolk, had been raped before she was killed, while Mr Miller, of Leeds, had been hit over the head before drowning in the sea.
Lawyers for the defendants – both aged 22 and migrants from Myanmar – have said they will appeal.
The accused, both bar workers, retracted their initial confessions, claiming police had tortured them, an allegation supported by human rights campaigners.
Source:: BBC world news feed
