TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsTrial of Bangkok bomb suspects starts after translator row
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Police officers escort suspects in the Aug. 17 blast at Erawan Shrine, Bilal Mohammad (front) and Mieraili Yusufu (rear) as they arrive at a military court in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP/Sakchai Lalit)
T
estimony has begun in the trial of two men accused of a deadly 2015 bombing at a Bangkok landmark after a dispute over the defendants' translators.
Mieraili Yusufu and Bilal Mohammad have pleaded not guilty in the Aug. 17, 2015, bombing of the Erawan shrine, which is popular among Chinese and other tourists. Fourteen of the dead were tourists.
Testimony began Tuesday after the court overruled defense objections that two translators provided by the Chinese Embassy might be prejudiced against the defendants, Chinese nationals from the Muslim Uighur minority.
The defendants maintained that China doesn't respect Uighurs, but the court said there was no evidence the translators would be biased.
Thai authorities say a people-smuggling gang whose activities were disrupted by a crackdown carried out the bombing as revenge.
