The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) regrets the imposition of the death penalty by a Thai court on two Uyghur men from China’s Xinjiang region following a trial that did not conform to international standards, and calls for the quashing of their conviction and death sentence.
Paris, 11 June 2026. On 11 June 2026, the Bangkok South Criminal Court found Bilal Mohammed and Yusufu Mieraili guilty of carrying out the August 2015 bombing of the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, which resulted in 20 deaths and more than 120 injuries. In its judgment, the Court cited reliable testimonies and evidence from about 10 key prosecution witnesses. The Court dismissed the defendants’ allegations of ill-treatment by Thai police during inquiry and interrogation, stating that the they had not been sufficiently substantiated. The two Uyghur men have been detained for nearly 11 years pending the outcome of their trial. Both maintained their innocence and said they would appeal their conviction and death sentence.
"The death sentence imposed on the two Uyghurs adds insult to injury. After the numerous fair trial rights violations to which the two have been subjected, they could now face the violation of their most fundamental right – the right to life. Their sentence should be quashed, and due process should be restored," said FIDH Vice-President Teppei Ono.
FIDH recalls that the trial against Bilal Mohammed and Yusufu Mieraili was marred by repeated and serious fair trial violations, including: the right to liberty; the right to humane treatment and protection against torture and ill-treatment while in detention; the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention; the right to a trial before an independent, impartial, and competent tribunal; and the right to trial within a reasonable time. These rights are guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), to both of which Thailand is a state party. Such violations led the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to declare the detention of Bilal Mohammed and Yusufu Mieraili "arbitrary."
FIDH reiterates its call on the Thai government to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, and, in the meantime, to declare an official and permanent moratorium on all executions, commute all death sentences to prison terms, repeal the mandatory death sentence where it currently exists, and significantly reduce the number of criminal offenses that can be punished by death.
As of March 2026, there were 460 prisoners (401 men and 59 women) under sentence of death in Thailand.
FIDH, a founding member of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) and a member of its Steering Committee, opposes the death penalty for all crimes and in all circumstances.
Decade-long "arbitrary" detention
Bilal Mohammed was arrested by Thai police and military officers on 29 August 2015 in Bangkok, while Yusufu Mieraili was arrested on 31 August 2015 by Cambodian authorities in Phnom Penh before being handed over to the Thai authorities in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo Province, bordering Cambodia, the following day. They were subsequently held, for most of the past decade, at Nakhon Chaisri Temporary Remand Facility within the 11th Army Circle military base in Bangkok, before being transferred to the Bangkok Remand Prison in March 2025.
The trial against the two men began in February 2016. Between 2016 and 2019, the trial was held in the Bangkok Military Court. In July 2019, it was transferred to the civilian Bangkok South Criminal Court, where proceedings remained extremely slow. The examination of 447 prosecution witnesses was completed in October 2025. Bilal Mohammed and Yusufu Mieraili testified before the Court in December 2025 and January 2026, respectively. Both defendants informed the Court that they had been subjected to ill-treatment by the Thai authorities during the inquiry in September 2015 to extract a confession.
In its opinion adopted on 26 August 2025 and made public in late November 2025, the WGAD found the prolonged deprivation of liberty of Bilal Mohammed and Yusufu Mieraili to be arbitrary and called on the Thai government to release them immediately. The WGAD also called on the Thai and Cambodian government to accord Bilal Mohammed and Yusufu Mieraili "an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations." In addition, it urged both governments to "ensure a full and independent investigation" into the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of the two men.
