The bodies of 23-year-old Hanna Witheridge and 24-year-old David Miller were discovered in September 2014 on a beach on Koh Tao, a small island in the Gulf of Thailand.
They were partially undressed and had severe head injuries. Witheridge was raped.
Two Burmese men, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo – also known as Win Zaw Htun – were arrested almost two weeks after the bodies were found. In 2015, they were both convicted and sentenced to death. Now they will instead face life imprisonment, said Nakhon Chompuchat, the two men’s lawyer.
On Friday, the Thai king issued a massive royal pardon for those who are in death, who have taken advantage of all career opportunities and have never received a royal pardon before.
“This time will be their first time. So for this time, they have the right to receive it,” Chompuchat said. “They are no longer sitting in the executive queues.”
The royal pardon was made in the spirit of the king’s birthday, to give convicted prisoners the opportunity to “reverse their behavior and become good citizens,” the text of the law says.
Suitcase with high profile
The two men, from the Rakhine state of Myanmar, were working in the hairdressing salon on the island at the time of the murder. After her arrest, she later confessed back, saying her admission of guilt was made under duress.
The killings on the popular diving island of Koh Tao have attracted intense media attention from around the world. Defense lawyers for the two men later claimed that police were rushing the investigation to preserve Thailand’s image as one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.
The defense argued that the investigation was flawed because of “alleged misconduct of forensic evidence, misuse of suspicions and intimidation of witnesses,” according to an earlier statement issued by the Migrant Worker Rights Network, a rights group assisting the defense team.
Thai police said forensic evidence, including DNA samples from cigarette butts found near the bodies, tied the men to the scene.
The first appeal upheld the guilty verdict in 2017. The case was re-appealed, leading to the Supreme Court upholding the sentence and the death penalty. The Supreme Court ruled that the forensic evidence was “clear, credible and detailed”, and refuted suggestions that the police had mishandled the case.
In 2018, Thailand lifted a de facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty, and executed a man by lethal injection in the country’s first execution since August 2009, court groups said.
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