Win Zaw Htun, left, and Zaw Lin have have officially retracted the confessions they made, according to their lawyers Photograph: Reuters
Two Burmese men accused of murdering a pair of young British tourists in Thailand
only confessed to the killings after police threatened to douse them in
petrol and set them alight, or dismember them and dump their bodies in a
river, according to the father of one of the suspects.
Htun Htun Htike, the father of Win Zaw Htun, said his son and the
co-accused, Zaw Lin, told him they were tortured by police and a
translator, as well as threatened, after being arrested over the deaths
of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on the popular holiday island of
Koh Tao.
A team of British officers has since been sent to Thailand to liaise with their local counterparts.
But the comments by Htun Htun Htike, in an interview with the Democratic Voice of Burma,
a Thai-based news service run by Burmese exiles, contains new and
serious allegations from the pair. He reiterated that his son and Zaw
Lin had not killed Witheridge and Miller or raped the former, and had
only confessed after interrogators said they would kill them. David Miller and Hannah WitheridgePhotograph: Guardian/Guardian
“My son and his friend told me they were subjected to physical
torture by the Thai police and their translator,” Htun Htun Htike said.
“The interrogators told them to confess to the crime, and threatened to
cut off their limbs, put them in a bag, and dump them in a river if they
did not.
“The police also threatened to tie the two boys to a tyre, pour
petrol on it, and set it alight. My son said they were terrified and
confessed. But now that we [their parents and Burmese officials] are
present, they can speak the truth – that they did not commit the murder.
My son also told me that the police threatened to use Tasers on them.”
According to Thai police the Burmese men found Witheridge, 23, and
Miller, 24, embracing on a beach. Police claim that the accused struck
Miller on the head, leaving him to drown in the surf, before raping and
killing Witheridge. Postmortems showed Witheridge died from head
injuries, while Miller died from blows to the head and drowning. The parents of Win Zaw Htun.Photograph: SITTHIPONG CHAREONJAI/EPA
Several human rights groups which work with Burmese migrants in
Thailand have expressed alarm at the men’s claims of torture, saying
Burmese nationals can sometimes be used as scapegoats for crimes. Thai
police say the case against the men is fair, denying any mistreatment,
and say there is also forensic evidence linking them to the killings.
A Foreign Office statement said the three officers – homicide
detectives from the Metropolitan and Norfolk forces, and a forensic
coordinator from the Met – arrived in Thailand on Monday, and would
travel to Koh Tao. It said: “Their remit is to meet their Thai
counterparts and ‘gain a better understanding of the investigation’.
They may offer additional assistance if requested by the Thai
authorities.”
Earlier this month the junior Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire
summoned the Thai chargé d’affaires to the UK, Nadhavathna Krishnamra,
to hear British concerns about the investigation.
1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period. March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper, The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s Hsa-tu-gaw (the Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of Sgaw , is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian Dhamma Thadinsa (the Religious Herald ), in Moulmein. Supposedly the first Burmese-language newspaper, it continued up until the first year of the second Angl
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