Two men sentenced to death over Koh Tao backpacker murders

Hundreds of people, including monks, gathered in Yangon to protest at the verdict, many saying they believed the two men had been wrongly convicted.

Myanmar police set up barriers in front of the Thai embassy before the protest started at 10 a.m. (0530GMT) Friday, creating a restricted area around the diplomatic mission.

The bodies of Hannah Witheridge, 23, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and David Miller, 24, were found on the neighbouring island of Koh Tao a year ago with awful head injuries.

Two men have been found guilty and sentenced to death for the murders of a pair of British tourists in Thailand previous year.

A couple traveled to Thailand’s island of Koh Tao last September.

There is some discussion about the case, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the verdict was profoundly disturbing because defendants had said police tortured the men and those accusations were never investigated.

Speaking outside the courtroom, Mr Miller’s family said the decision meant that justice had finally been done, describing the evidence against the two migrant workers as “absolutely overwhelming”.

Following weeks of pressure to solve the case, police arrested Myanmar migrant workers Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun and later said the two had confessed to the crimes.

Andy Hall, a Thailand-based activist for the rights of migrant workers, said the defence team was surprised by the sentence and that volunteers would continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the two men.

Throughout the trial the defence disputed the forensic evidence as flawed and accused the police of torturing their clients into signing confessions, which they later retracted.

The killings sullied Thailand’s reputation as a happy-go-lucky tourist destination and raised questions over its justice system and its treatment of migrant workers.

Although there were no direct witnesses, the defendants’ DNA traces that were found at the crime scene and on Witheridge’s body was enough to prove their guilt, according to the court.

“Let’s show the world that Myanmar and Thai journalists will fight together for justice, human rights and democratic values”, it said in its letter.

Shortly after the murders, Mr Miller’s father, Ian, said he believed his son had stepped in to help Miss Witheridge when they were both killed.

Ms Witheridge had been savagely raped and beaten to death and Mr Miller had been beaten unconscious and left to drown in the incoming tide.

It prompted Miss Witheridge’s family to issue a statement calling for the removal of the “pointless and insensitive reminders” of the murders.

But Mr Patel, who is Amnesty International’s director for south-east Asia, said the torture claims required an independent investigation, which the police themselves should not be in charge of.

Prosecutors claimed DNA evidence collected from cigarette butts, a condom and the bodies of the victims, linked Lin and Phyo to the killings. Lin and Phyo are set to appeal their convictions – a process which may take up to a year – and any retrial should disregard evidence extracted using violence, Amnesty added.

Thailand has more than 450 prisoners on death row.